Incuratus
by Mell8
Summary: Nothing is Incurable except death itself and no one knows that better than Healer Weasley. D/G
1. Chapter 1

Incuratus

Chapter One

By Mell8

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A.N. I blame House for this one…

A lot of the detailed doctor-ly information comes from Google and the hp-lexicon so if it's wrong please don't blame me. Rather, I would prefer that you tell me so I can fix it!

Also, this is technically not DH compatible. There might be some information from DH used but I'm completely disregarding the entire travesty. I'm also not sure how much HBP is going to be in this either. I guess you'll just have to read and find out!

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"Internal bleeding, his liver was punctured in the attack. Healer Weasley?"

Ginny looked up from where she was busily casting blood clotting spells on a fifteen year old boy who had been caught in the crossfire. It was lucky he was unconscious or the spells that reattached his dismembered arm would have sent him into shock.

A healer in training, likely one of the few advanced enough in his classes to be allowed to help out with triage, was hovering over a bloody and mangled man. His wand was spewing colored dots that hung in the air in ominous red and black colors.

"Do you know the spell for sutures?" Ginny snapped as she stood and pulled off her bloodied gloves.

"Yes, Miss," the boy nodded his head eagerly and wasn't looking too green around the gills from all the blood and death surrounding them. If she didn't collapse from exhaustion, Ginny would have to remember to write a good recommendation to his supervisor.

"Good, find a clean pair of gloves and scourgify your wand. I want you to finish the stitching of the major wounds and give him a blood-replenishing potion. Send him to the intensive care children's ward once he's stabilized," Ginny said in a rushed voice as she found clean gloves and swapped places with the younger healer.

This new patient was male, about six feet or so, and was covered head to toe in blood. Ginny quickly cast cleaning charms to disperse the blood and got to work extracting what looked like someone else's wand from the patient's stomach and liver.

It was a slow process, much like an arrow wound except without the sharp point to contend with. She pressed one hand on his stomach around the embedded wand for pressure as spells fell from her lips. More colored dots swooped around her head and she carefully watched the red one beating in time with his pulse and the blue one that flared every time he took a breath as she slowly muttered the spell that inched the wand out of his flesh.

She made sure not to aggravate the injury and found herself holding her breath to steady her hands until the tip of the wand was safely free. Then she was quickly casting stasis spells and blood clotting spells to help halt the deluge of blood and blacker fluids that spewed from the wound with the absence of the wand.

Once she knew he was somewhat stable Ginny forced a blood replenishing potion down his throat and cast a few quick spells that froze the wound as it was. It wouldn't get worse now that the wand was out so this patient could safely wait until the more serious cases had been taken care of.

"Mary!" Ginny called even though it was so loud from the sobbing and spell casting filling the room that the older woman didn't hear her at first. "This one needs more treatment. Could you please have him brought to a private room in my ward? Once I'm done here I'm going to have to finish sewing up this puncture wound."

"That's a right nasty one, Healer Weasley," Mary said primly as she shucked her gloves and pulled on fresh ones. "I'm guessing it'll be a couple layers of stitches before you can even think about closing the wound?"

"Something like that, Mary," Ginny nodded tiredly. "I've got to go, there's a man by the door coughing up blood."

"That might have something to do with the fist sized hole in his chest," Mary quipped as she gently Wingardium Leviosa-ed the John Doe and guided him out the door.

It was three hours later when Ginny was finally able to get to the patient with the puncture wound.

The man with the hole in his chest had died before she had finished closing the wound and she had been forced to leave him for the coroner, especially when a pregnant woman with a split skull had gone into serious labor on the blood soaked floor.

She had apparently been having contractions for the last few hours but, since she was stable, no one had noticed the contractions and she had been forced to wait until the immediate cases had been taken care of. The blow to her head had masked her contractions as well and no one had thought to check on the babe in the rush to take care of the other, truly serious cases.

Ginny had been forced to run alongside the stretcher casting healing spells on the woman's head as she was rushed to maternity. Both the woman and her babe had been fine but it had been a close call.

Exhaustion warred with common sense as Ginny swiftly made her way past her office and a comfortable couch and into the private room of the man who had mysteriously gotten himself punctured in the abdomen with a wand.

Luckily he was still unconscious and the colored dots said he was stable. All she had to do was spell together the lining of his stomach, his liver, and a few layers of muscle and epidermis before those horrid black dots would fade away.

She started slowly and was relieved when both the stomach and the liver knitted themselves back together. It was a picky spell that only worked at the best of times. The fact that it had worked now meant that this man had a good chance of surviving and not being forced to eat only applesauce for the rest of his life.

While she had the chance, Ginny quickly poured a few more potions down his throat: another blood replenishing potion and one potion to stimulate the regrowth of skin and muscles.

Then Ginny settled into the chair for the long haul. She had a couple hundred stitches to set into the wound and one mistake could mean his death.

She had better be getting paid overtime for this!

III

"Healer Weasley?"

"Mmmph?" Ginny moaned as she cracked one eye open.

"It's nearing four in the morning, Ma'am," the healer in training from triage was hovering over her looking worried.

Ginny cast a quick eye on her surroundings and shook her head ruefully. "I guess I fell asleep when I was making sure this patient didn't have a relapse," Ginny moaned as she sat up from the uncomfortable slump she had fallen into on the hard backed chair at the bedside of the puncture wound patient.

The healer in training winced as she cracked her back and watched with interest as she prodded the colored dots with her wand.

"There, now if something goes wrong one of the dots will go and inform the closest healer." Ginny groaned loudly as she forced herself to her feet. "Now, what are you still doing here…er…"

"Taylor, Miss, Taylor Blanche," the boy blushed. "I was actually finishing the last of the morning shift when Diagon Alley was attacked. I volunteered to help out since they were short of hands until the next shift arrived."

"But what are you doing here at…is it really four! Oh, Ron's going to kill me!"

He laughed. "Mr. Weasley is busy at the Ministry, last I heard from the wireless. I'm here because trainees get the worst hours and I drew the short straw this week."

Ginny laughed as she passed her wand over the patient for one last checkup before turning towards the door. "I got the graveyard shift quite a few times myself when I was in training. I found it to be a great time to snog Robert Jenson in the supply closet."

Taylor blushed a bright red that let Ginny know that that particular tradition had not ended.

"Who's your supervisor?" Ginny asked suddenly as she led the boy to her office.

"Healer Jenson, Miss," he said, blushing again.

"Ahh," Ginny said delicately. "Well, tell him that I want to speak with him when he comes in. I like your tenacity, kid, and I feel like taking on an apprentice."

"Oh! Really!" Taylor looked shell-shocked and Ginny laughed at his flabbergasted expression.

"Really!" Ginny chirped back as she held the door open to her office. "You kept your head on straight at the triage disaster and you didn't complain too much about getting stuck on double duty yesterday and early morning duty today. Besides," Ginny looked ruefully at herself in the full-length mirror beside her cluttered desk. "I need someone to run my scrubs down to laundry since I'm far too lazy to do it myself. Flattering you seems to be the best way to get you to do it for me."

She was covered head to toe in other people's blood and it was drying in hard maroonish-brown patches and flaking off her skin and previously green scrubs. Her red hair, a color similar to what the blood had been when it was fresh, had been tied back in a tight but functional bun but was now a mass of dirty fly-aways and knots.

"Help me out of this?" she asked gently.

The boy nodded and carefully helped her pull off the shirt and pants. The white t-shirt and boy-shorts underwear she had on underneath were just as stained but would have to wait until she apparated home for a shower before they could be tossed.

"If you'll take those to the laundry?" she asked tiredly. "I just need to write up and submit a quick report about my patient and then I'm afraid that I'm going to leave you to the tedium of the early morning hours in favor of some sleep."

"Of course," Taylor said with a smile. "And, umm, I'll have Healer Jenson find you once you come back for your next shift?"

"You're learning already," Ginny smirked with a nod. Taylor smiled happily and practically bounced out of the door.

"I'm getting too old for this," Ginny groaned as she eased herself into the hard desk chair usually reserved for visitors. She didn't want to stain her leather chair nor did she want to fall asleep before a shower and a change of clothes, so she chose functionality over comfort.

Luckily the report was easy enough to fill out. She had no clue who her patient was so was able to leave all pertinent information blank. She made sure to note that the dots would alert the closest competent staff if an issue arose before spelling the paper into a bird shape and sending it on it's way.

III

Home was home and it was boring as hell but it had a shower and a bed so Ginny was happy. She apparated into the den, half naked and covered in dried blood, and was relieved not to hear screaming. That had happened once when Harry and his girl of the week had been taking advantage of her absence and a very comfortable couch when she had popped in after a bloody surgery gone wrong.

The flat was silent. Harry's door was open, as was Ron and Hermione's, and both rooms were empty of their occupants. Ginny guessed they were still at the Ministry, arguing over what had gone wrong at Diagon Alley that had allowed the Death Eaters entrance.

Either way it meant that Ginny had the place to herself and she couldn't help smiling happily.

She washed her hands and arms as best she could in the bathroom sink before running a bubble bath in the oversized tub Harry had installed for her twentieth birthday. She hopped in the shower while the bath was filling and used the cold water to quickly wash away the flaking blood. She flicked her wand with a quick accio spell as she carefully stepped into the hot bath.

A cup filled with tea, two slices of toast, and a slice of cheese made their way out of the kitchen to the bath where Ginny quickly made herself a cheese sandwich and luxuriated in the warmth.

When Ron came home an hour later he gently helped her slumbering form out of the tub and into pajamas before tucking her into her bed.

III

"We had almost two hundred people rushed to St. Mungo's yesterday, Harry!" Ginny hissed at lunch the same day. She had woken up to find herself in her own bed, curled around the stuffed dragon Charlie had gotten her when she was three, to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione hovering at her bedside.

"Two hundred people! And half of them were children! Harry what happened?"

Harry groaned and leaned his elbows on the kitchen nook that comfortably seated two but was now surrounded by all four occupants of the flat. "I have no idea," he said softly. "I'm in charge of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. My team was checking the wards in preparation for the new school year starting next week. By the time we got the call from Diagon it was too late."

"The Death Eaters were aiming for the families specifically," Hermione gasped out sadly. "No one knows how they got into Diagon, maybe through Knockturn Alley even though it's warded too, but they were definitely aiming for the people shopping for school supplies."

"And it's only a week before school. Everyone would be there with their kids!" Ginny gasped. "No wonder we had so many Portkeyed into the hospital!"

"Yeah," Ron groaned. They all looked disheartened for a second before Ginny happened to glance up at the clock.

"I've got to be at work in five minutes!" she shrieked as she stood from the table and rushed to her room to get ready.

She apparated right into her office and knew that downstairs her time card was turning over to announce to the receptionist that she was in and ready to take any patients.

An hour and a few cases of missing limbs via dangerous houseplants and irritated beasties later and Ginny was wondering why she had wanted to be a healer in the first place.

Her specialty was missing limbs and serious wounds and was the best in the hospital at regrowing fingers and stitching up gaping injuries. That wasn't even her pride crowing; she was the best.

Maybe her love of healing people had stemmed from when her own father had been in St. Mungo's for that snake bite quite a few years back. She remembered watching eagerly as Healer Smethwyk cast spell after spell over the bleeding hole in her father's flesh only to have it barely heal. Then when her father and Trainee Healer Augustus Pye decided to stitch her father back up using the Muggle method and failed miserably, she had watched again as Healer Smethwyk had to recast all those spells just to get the flesh to close again. But what surprised Ginny the most was the fact that the stitching would have worked if it hadn't been for the snake venom preventing the wound from healing at all.

Her final thesis paper for becoming a Healer had been written on complementary medicine, specifically that of incorporating Muggle stitching into healing as a way to augment the spells and, once she had put her ideas into practice, it lifted her to the high position in the hospital she held now. She had spent two years working at both St. Mungo's and the local Muggle hospital until she had perfected her technique. Now it was almost unheard of for a Healer to close a major wound without at least perfunctory stitches.

Ginny walked into the waiting room and up to the receptionist. She carefully walked around the woman with two flobberworms lodged in her ears and made sure to duck when a man with a dog snout sneezed and spewed fire across the room.

That was so not her area of expertise.

Sure, she knew how to extricate imbedded animals and how to reverse what was clearly a potions mistake because of the fact that his ears remained human rather than the usual charms incident where his ears would have become canine as well. Every healer had to be competent in all forms of healing to get a job at the hospital. But it just wasn't as engaging as missing limbs and bloody bodies.

Okay, so maybe she loved her job. She just hated tedium.

"Anyone bleeding uncontrollably, Alice?" Ginny asked the receptionist with a nod hello and a smile.

"I had one man a few minutes ago who was bleeding green puss out of his nose and ears; but that goop would've needed to come out anyway so I just sent him on up to poisons."

"I guess I'll take a break then," Ginny said with a shrug. "If you desperately need me I'll be checking on my newest patient or I'll be hiding in my office."

Alice leaned closer. "I've heard that your patient is a Death Eater," she whispered conspiratorially. "Does he have the mark? What's his name?"

Ginny laughed. "You know it doesn't matter whether he's a Death Eater or not. We heal all those in need despite their political or social standings. I heal Aurors just as well as I heal Death Eaters. But to be honest," Ginny said as she leaned closer to Alice. "I have no idea who he is or what side he's on. I've been waiting all day for him to wake up just so I could ask."

She left Alice with that juicy bit of gossip and strolled out of the waiting room and up towards her office. Healer Jenson was waiting for her just outside of her office and Ginny couldn't suppress a groan. The man was scowling which invariably meant he was unhappy about something.

"Ginny," he said tensely the moment she was within earshot. "Why has my best trainee just informed me that you are trying to steal him away from me?"

"Do you mean Taylor Blanche?" Ginny asked as she led him into her office. She collapsed into her cozy chair and gestured for him to take a seat. "Robert, you must know why I want him."

Robert's scowl deepened. "He has a steady hand and so much potential. He could work anywhere in this hospital easily. Why are you taking away his chances at working somewhere else? Maybe he would prefer poisons or spell damage instead of your little brand of mayhem."

Ginny sighed. "Robert, I'm getting too old for this."

He snorted. "Ginny, you're twenty five, only two years younger than me. That's hardly old."

"Fine," she frowned petulantly. "He was at the triage yesterday and I didn't see him lose his cool once. Most younglings would take one look at the carnage and bolt to the closest toilet. Instead he was busy assessing the critical injuries. He finished stitching up a boy for me after calling me over to deal with a patient with a wand imbedded in his gut. If I hadn't seen that Egyptian mummy fiasco a few years back I probably wouldn't've been able to handle that, but your Taylor Blanche didn't even flinch. You specifically need that sort of tenacity to work my job and I want him."

"I already know that he has a strong stomach. What does that have to do with you taking him from all the other options open to him?"

"I can't keep doing my job alone. I take dozens of cases a day and that's not even counting the people who come in when I'm off work and have to be put under stasis spells until I can get to them. I know it's selfish, but if I have another day like yesterday I want to know that if I die from exhaustion there'll be someone to keep my knowledge alive."

"I just don't want him to specialize before he knows what he really wants. It would be terrible if you forced him to practice a job he hates for the rest of his life." Robert leaned forward to pierce Ginny with a glare.

"How about we compromise," Ginny said finally. "Until he makes a decision and begins research on his thesis he will continue to study all forms of healing under your tutelage. But I get him for two hours every day."

"Can't you wait until after he's decided his thesis, Ginny?" Robert asked with a frown. "If he decides to follow in your footsteps, as you seem to think he will, then he's all yours."

"Mmmm, yes, but since you're so concerned about his future why don't you think about all the doors that will open because he's studied under award winning Healer Ginevra Weasley."

Robert sighed and shook his head. "You want him so much that you're even willingly bringing your medals into this conversation?" At her nod he sighed and closed his eyes sadly. "Very well, you can have him two hours a day. But once he starts on his thesis he gets free reign."

"Lovely," Ginny smiled. "I'll expect him tomorrow. If you would go inform the boy?"

Robert sighed and stood from his seat. "You're still a manipulative bitch, Ginny," her muttered under his breath as he strode to the door.

"Yes, yes," Ginny waved her hand dismissively. "That's why we broke up, if I remember correctly. But," she paused and Robert turned to look at her through the open doorway. "Thanks."

He smiled and left and Ginny slumped down in her chair in relief for a second before pulling out some new energy so she could go check on her patient.

The private room still smelled of blood and antiseptic and the patient was still unconscious. She quickly walked over and began checking all the colored dots.

His breathing was steady, as was his heart rate. All but one black dot had faded over the course of the day but the last one wouldn't fade until the stitches had dissolved and he was fully healed. She tapped the dot feeding nutrients into his blood system with a finger and watched as numbers began to roll across the small area until she was satisfied with the results.

She gently prodded the wound with the tip of her wand and watched as the magical sutures turned colors. Red and orange meant that the wound had not healed in those places yet while the green and blue colors showed that he was healing well.

"You still have a ways to go," Ginny told the unconscious man with a sigh. "You're stuck in this hospital bed until all those red and orange stitches turn green."

She sat down in the same hard backed chair she had slept in the night before and pierced the man with a look. "I suppose I should find out who you are so I can pull your medical records," she mused.

Now that he was clean she could see his dusky colored skin and black hair. His face was young, perhaps he was around her age, but the lines were hard from stress or just from seeing too much. That happened often with people who were fighting in the war. Ron and Harry already had lines embedded in their foreheads from worry and they weren't even thirty!

"Alright," Ginny groaned and stood. "It'll just be a little prick of the finger, you won't even feel it. Then I'll just match your magical signature to your file and we'll know who you are."

She opened the man's hand and positioned her wand only to freeze when she felt a wand tip prod her in the back.

"Don't," a voice hissed. "No one needs to know he was even here let alone who he is."

Ginny slowly let go of her wand and watched it clatter to the floor. The wand's pressure on her back lessened but didn't leave.

"Sit in the chair," the voice snapped. She obeyed with a sigh and didn't even flinch when ropes sprang out of the wand and tied her to the chair.

Ginny recognized a disillusionment charm when a hazy form stepped in front of her. She could just barely make out a male figure before she noticed just what this semi-invisible man was doing.

The colored dots sprang from her patient and flew to the closest competent healer, her, screaming alerts. Her patient was now gently floating above the bed at the wand of her attacker.

"No!" Ginny yelled, straining against her bonds. "You can't move him! I just put in those stitches and moving him could rip them out. He'll bleed to death before you even get out of the hospital."

"What do you care?" the invisible man snarled. "He's just another Death Eater. Why heal him when your Aurors are only going to have him executed as soon as he can open his eyes?"

"I wouldn't allow it! Euthanasia is strictly against St. Mungo's policy!"

"It wouldn't be euthanasia," he snapped. "It would be politically correct murder. Your Hippocratic Oath doesn't protect Death Eaters from the Ministry."

"I didn't swear the Hippocratic Oath! It's outdated. I swore to the Declaration of Geneva. "I will not permit considerations of age, disease or disability, creed, ethnic origin, gender, nationality, _political affiliation_, race, sexual orientation, social standing or any other factor to intervene between my duty and my patient,"" she recited while glaring up where she assumed the head of the almost visible man was. "No one will be committing any murder under my watch so PUT MY PATIENT DOWN!" she yelled causing the man to jump and the colored dots to scream at an increased pitch.

"Healer Weasley! I heard the alarms. Is everything o-" Taylor rushed into the room and froze at the sight that met him. "Umm, what's going on?"

Ginny kept her glare focused on the disillusioned man as Taylor froze by the door, undecided whether he should run for help or stay to protect Ginny.

"A Weasley!" the invisible man hissed. "You've probably already alerted your lover, Potter. Blood traitors can not be trusted."

Suddenly Ginny recognized that voice. How often had she heard those words sneered at her or one of her bothers over the years they spent at Hogwarts.

"Malfoy," she sighed. "And that must mean my patient is Zabini. Put him down please."

The disillusionment spell dropped and an exhausted Draco Malfoy loomed over her with a threatening glare on his face. His blond hair was long and desperately in need of a cut and his face was gaunt and aged, just like everyone who fought in the war. Only his grey eyes were unchanged in their intensity.

"Merlin!" Taylor gasped. "A Death Eater!"

"Taylor," Ginny snapped. "Come in and close the door behind you. Malfoy and I have something to discuss and it would be safer for you to be here."

Taylor brushed his mouse brown hair out of his eyes and complied. He hurried over to her side and began prodding the dots with a finger to get them to stop shrieking.

"Healer, his pulse rate!" Taylor gasped as he caught sight of the red dot Ginny had been closely monitoring out of the corner of her eye.

"I know," she moaned. "But I can't do anything until Malfoy decides to stop killing his best friend."

"Look, Sir," Taylor said soothingly to Malfoy. "Your friend's heart rate is dropping dangerously low. Soon he won't be getting any oxygen to his brain. If he has a stroke on top of his already serious wounds…" He held his hands out in the universal 'I'm unarmed' gesture and took a slow step forward. "Please, let us heal him. Once he's stable you can take him."

Ginny looked at her apprentice with shock. What was he doing healing when he was such a smooth talker? He could have a promising future in politics.

"Look, Malfoy," Ginny said finally when it looked like Taylor had run out of things to say to placate him. "You can stay and watch him for as long as you like. Just let me do my job!"

The pulse dot began to beep with ominous deceleration as it tried it's best to alert a healer that the patient was fading fast.

"He's dying, Malfoy!" Ginny snapped.

She watched as Malfoy grimaced and gently deposited his friend back down on the bed. Taylor quickly undid her bonds and stepped aside as she scooped up her wand and began to hurriedly cast healing spells to bring his pulse back up.

"Taylor," she snapped and the boy rushed to her side. "Watch closely. This black dot," she said pointing to a new one that had appeared over the course of their argument, "shows that he has internal bleeding. Poke it with your finger, go on," Ginny said as she called an orange dot into existence and spelled it to force his heart to pump.

Taylor poked the dot and gasped as it flashed red and showed a distorted picture of the liver.

"The jostling opened the stitching in his liver?" Taylor asked. "He's bleeding pretty heavily inside?"

"Unfortunately. Go to the cabinet and get out two blood replenishing potions and one flesh regrowing one."

As Taylor hurried to obey her, Ginny began undoing the stitching she had spent hours putting in last night.

"Tilt his neck down so he doesn't choke," Ginny instructed as she worked.

"Done," Taylor called once the vials were empty.

"Good, come over here and watch what I'm doing carefully. It's not every day you get to see internal stitches removed and replaced." She continued to teach as she finished removing her stitches and began casting spells to close the bloody hole in the liver. Taylor helped immensely and Ginny was glad that she had decided to take him under her wing by the time all the new black dots and the orange one had faded.

Then she turned on Malfoy.

He was slumped down in the chair watching his friend with a helpless look on his face.

"He was hit with shrapnel when a spell made a building explode," Malfoy whispered in response to her look. "I didn't know what to do and the Aurors were closing in fast. I hid and whoever was sweeping the scene for live victims Portkeyed Blaise here. I figured that no one would recognize him until after he was healed enough for me to get him out, so I waited."

"Look, Malfoy," Ginny said softly. "My Healers' Oath includes patient confidentiality. Morally, I can't disclose any information if the patient doesn't want me to. He's safe here, as are you, as long as neither of you try to attack or kill anyone while you're in the hospital."

"And the boy?" Malfoy sneered at Taylor. "And that's besides the fact that you're a Weasley. If you had any morals you'd be fighting alongside the Dark Lord like all purebloods ought to be."

"I'm a healer!" she snapped. "There is no such thing as sides, only bodies and blood. And let me tell you, blood is just as red if the body has a skull tattoo or wears Auror robes."

"This isn't the first Death Eater you've healed?" Malfoy raised an eyebrow in surprise and disbelief. "A Weasley, helping Death Eaters? What would your oaf of a brother think?"

"I really don't care what Ron or any of the rest of my family think. And I've already told you, I don't discriminate. When I was in the field I healed whoever needed me most."

Malfoy turned from her and cast the disillusionment charm on himself again. "I'll be watching you, Weasley. If either you or the boy breathe a word about Blaise or me, you'll die."

Ginny just shook her head. "Of course. I wouldn't expect anything less."

"Healer Weasley, emergency ward two. Healer Weasley, emergency ward two."

"Well, I guess it's back to work for me," Ginny grumbled as she shucked her gloves and tossed them in the biohazard bin. "Taylor, your shift's over. Go home and get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow."

Ginny cast one last look over the slumbering Blaise Zabini before turning and rushing from the room to go to her next patient.


	2. Chapter 2

Incuratus

Chapter Two

By Mell8

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Three days and Zabini still hadn't woken. Ginny shook her head sadly as she changed the doses his IV dot gave him. He was still pale beneath his dark skin but was healing rapidly. If he woke up she would feel comfortable releasing him to home bed rest, but only if he woke.

"How's he doing?" Malfoy asked as he appeared beside her. "Why isn't he getting better? You've done something wrong, Weasley scum!"

Ginny spun around to glare at Malfoy but after one look at him she dropped her harsh words. He was just as pale as his friend, although it was much more pronounced because of his fair skin, and was swaying on his feet.

"How long has it been since you've eaten or slept?" Ginny asked gently. She guided him to the chair and felt his forehead for the fever she knew was raging under his skin.

"Don't touch me, wench!" Malfoy snapped but didn't make any further effort to throw her off. Her hand burned from the contact and she gasped. His fever was dangerously high. It was a wonder he hadn't fainted from it!

"Good afternoon Healer Weasley," Taylor chirped as he walked into the room.

"Oh, Taylor, I'm sorry to treat you like a house elf, but would you please go down to the cafeteria and get three lunches? Soup for Mr. Malfoy and whatever you're getting yourself for me? We can have lunch in my office and I'll begin teaching you some of the theory work that is the basis for my job."

"Don't worry about it. This is so much better than filing papers for Healer Jenson all day." Taylor cast a worried look at Malfoy before nodding and rushing off.

Ginny levered Malfoy to his feet and led him out of Blaise's room and down the hall into her office. She sat him down on the couch and began searching her desk for fever reducing potions.

Malfoy was too out of it to even bother complaining that he was touching the filthy skin of a Weasel although she did feel a couple shudders that she decided to attribute to the fever rather than his dislike of her.

When Taylor returned, Ginny forced Malfoy to eat the entire bowl of chicken noodle soup before liberally dosing him with fever reducing and dreamless sleep potions. She covered him with a quilt before pulling out her thesis paper and sitting down next to Taylor at her desk.

When Malfoy woke six hours later Taylor was long gone with a copy of her thesis and two huge tomes, one filled with the stitching and suturing spells she had created, and the other the medical guidebook for severe wounds. He had a week to read all three and was expecting a test on Monday.

"How's Blaise?" Malfoy mumbled before he was even fully awake.

"He's stable," Ginny answered. "But I can't let you take him home until he wakes."

Then Malfoy seemed to take in his surroundings and sneered at the threadbare blanket wrapped around him and the comfortable but hardly fashionable couch he was lying on.

"Your fever has gone down," Ginny added when it looked like Malfoy was about to open his mouth to say something hateful. "I would suggest that you return to your home to get a good nights sleep. I'll give you another check up in the morning. Now if you would excuse me, I have a nose to reattach for a woman who got on the wrong side of a biting teacup."

Malfoy watched wordlessly as she effortlessly kept him from speaking his bigoted words and walked away from him as if he were just another patient. It was hardly the treatment a Malfoy deserved but it was exactly what any ungrateful patient would receive from Ginny.

He shook his head and Apparated home.

Ginny Apparated into the den at her apartment, as usual, and found that her abrupt arrival had interrupted an Order meeting. She made her apologies to Kingsley Shacklebolt and to Harry before escaping into the kitchen where her mother was waiting.

"Oh, Ginny dear, welcome home." Molly Weasley enveloped her daughter in a hug before leading her over to the breakfast nook. "How was work?"

"Well someone decided to bring the Venomous Tentacula that poisoned them to the hospital where it attacked everyone in the waiting room. I got called into poisons to help close the wounds since the poison healers were too busy removing the poison to do that themselves. But otherwise it was pretty boring."

"Why couldn't you get a desk job like Percy?" Molly asked sadly. "That sounds so dangerous, Ginny."

"It's far less dangerous than Ron and Harry being Aurors or Fred and George keeping their shop open despite the recent attack. And Charlie and Bill face much worse with the dragons and goblins. At least I'm at the hospital so if something goes wrong there are plenty of people to help me."

"Yes, I suppose," Molly sighed and gazed at her daughter sadly. "I just hoped that you'd be married by now and would be at home taking care of my grandbabies."

"Mum!" Ginny hissed. "I have an amazing job. Even if the impossible happened and I found a man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, I wouldn't stop working. You know that!"

Molly didn't answer and instead stood from her chair and bustled over to the stove. "Ginny, you haven't any food in the house! It's disgraceful. Why won't you move back to the Burrow where I can take better care of you?"

Ginny groaned and walked out of the kitchen. She knew that answering her mother would just lead to another argument so she took the high road and went to her room.

It took only moments to change out of her hospital uniform and into a large t-shirt. When her mother came bustling into the room to coerce her daughter into helping her cook food for the thirty Order members crammed in the den, Ginny was deeply asleep, curled around her dragon.

III

"Why'd you help me yesterday, Weasley?" Malfoy snarled the second she stepped into Blaise's room the next morning. Ginny just sighed and went to wash her hands at the sink.

"You were ill, Malfoy. I help those who are sick and you qualified," she answered sharply without looking at him.

"Are you so sure that you want to be healing me, Weasley," he hissed with a lift of his eyebrow. "The other day I had one of your idiot spawn brothers at my mercy. I would've killed him too if he hadn't played the coward and apparated away. Are you so sure you want to be helping me now?"

Ginny resisted the urge to hit something with her just cleaned hands and instead went to check on Zabini.

"Just because I think you have awful ideas of what is right and good in this world does not change the fact that you are still a human being in need of care. If you had killed my brother I would have cried but I still have to do my job despite what I feel inside."

Malfoy sniffed but watched carefully as she checked over his friend. "Well?" he asked when she backed away and pulled off her gloves.

Ginny just sighed and shook her head. "If he doesn't wake today I'm afraid he might not ever."

"What!" Malfoy yelped. "No, you have to be mistaken. Blaise is fine." He sank into the chair and glared at her. "You heal him or I'll- I'll…" he trailed off and dropped his head into his hands.

"I'm doing the best I can, Malfoy," Ginny said, surprised at the care he was showing towards his friend. The Malfoy she remembered from school had callously tossed aside his friends and girlfriends, leaving carnage in his wake. But then again, Ginny mused now that she was actually thinking about the times she had actually seen Malfoy in school, she had never seen him even speaking with Zabini. Maybe the callousness was a front and the real Draco Malfoy saved his feelings for his private life. Zabini might have been his closest friend but only where the rest of the school couldn't see.

"Look, Malfoy," Ginny said bracingly. "Let's give Zabini a couple more hours to heal. If he hasn't woken by six tonight I'll do something risky that might shock his system awake."

"Why?" he murmured, looking stunned that she would go out of her way for him.

"Haven't we already been over this?" Ginny asked as she began to pull out the usual potions she gave Zabini every morning. "I do everything I can to heal my patients. I want Blaise Zabini to wake up and to walk out of this room on his own just as much as you do." She fed Blaise the potions before turning back to Malfoy. "I'm going to go track down my apprentice. Will you keep watch over Zabini? If even an eyelid flickers I want to know about it."

Malfoy nodded wordlessly so Ginny began to leave the room.

"Hey, Weasley…" Malfoy started slowly and waited for Ginny to acknowledge him before continuing. "When you find the boy, stay by triage. I'm sure the alarm is about to go off," he said before turning back to his friend.

Ginny's eyes widened and she rushed from the room.

Malfoy was right. As soon as she got downstairs a hospital wide alarm rang calling all personnel to triage immediately. She found Taylor just inside the door gathering sets of clean gloves for them both.

"Taylor, go, don't shadow me. But if you find something you don't know how to treat, call me over. I don't want you playing the hero, understand?"

He nodded and rushed into the melee of Portkeying bodies and splattering blood, Ginny only seconds behind him.

Muggles, Ginny couldn't help thinking as the fifth person shied away from her wand, were annoying. If they would just sit still and let her heal them without all the questions she could have healed dozens more people already. It didn't matter if she answered their questions though, because they were all going to be Obliviated and returned to their homes as soon as they were healed.

The Death Eaters had certainly landed a harsh blow this time. Instead of attacking a well-defended magical site like the Diagon Alley attack the previous week, they had gone after helpless Muggles. But they hadn't just chosen a spot in London to start blasting away. No. They had centered their attack on the same street where the old phone booth and the new toilet system that allowed entrance into the Ministry was located. It was instant carnage and Ginny was one of the healers dealing with the aftermath.

It was well after nine that night before she was able to stumble back upstairs to the room where Zabini and Malfoy were waiting. Taylor had her arm over his shoulder and was helping to guide her through the halls.

She collapsed just inside the door to the private room and was barely able to pull herself out of the way so Taylor could stagger in and shut the door behind him.

Malfoy jumped to his feet at the sight of them and rushed over to Ginny's side. "What happened?" he asked. "Why weren't you back by six like you promised."

Taylor moaned and decided it would be fine if he just lay down on the floor and went to sleep. He pillowed his head in his hands and closed his eyes against the bloody prints he had just stained on the clean linoleum.

"Weasley! Answer me!"

Ginny looked up slowly and he fell back at her red-rimmed eyes. She looked right at him and sniffled. Malfoy jumped back even further. He didn't want to deal with a blood soaked, crying girl.

"She was three," Ginny whispered. "A three year old girl, a baby!" There were tears dripping down her cheeks. "Her- her brain was dripping out of her nose and- and," she gasped as the tears left bloody furrows down her cheeks. "I didn't know what to do; there was nothing I could do."

She broke down sobbing into her arms and Malfoy quickly backed away until he was flush against the bed. To his horror, Malfoy saw that the Taylor boy was silently crying as well.

"Give her a hug," Malfoy heard from beside him. He jumped and looked down at the dark eyes of his best friend.

"Blaise!" Malfoy gasped excitedly.

"She needs comfort more than me," Blaise said gently.

"She's a Weasley," Malfoy sneered. "Besides, she's covered in blood. I'll not be touching that."

"Draco, go. Now." Blaise's tone didn't leave any room for argument so Malfoy inched forward until he was standing over the sobbing girl. He grimaced but he did bend down and gather her in his arms.

"Shhh, shhh, Weasley. You've already said it; there was nothing you could do. It was just a Muggle brat; at best she might have become a Mudblood. Don't waste your tears on scum like that."

She screeched and wrenched herself out of his arms. "She was just a baby! It doesn't matter whether she could do magic or whatever. Her blood was red and her brains, oh gods…she had ten fingers, ten toes, her eyes were blue…" She hiccupped and threw herself back into Malfoy's arms just to have something to clutch as she cried.

"Ginny, think about something else," Taylor whispered gently. He wiped his face dry leaving thick stripes of blood and tears across his cheeks. "Umm, Zabini's awake, Ginny. You've done an amazing job healing him!" The false cheer lacing his voice was lost on no one. Ginny took a large, shuddering breath before pulling out of Malfoy's arms and stumbling over to the patient's bed.

"I'll need to run some tests," she mumbled and pulled out her wand even as she listed to the side from exhaustion. Draco dove and caught her before her head collided with the floor.

"Idiot Weasley," Malfoy grumbled. "You're in no shape to be pointing your wand anywhere near Blaise. Go home, get cleaned up, and go to sleep. You can run your tests in the morning."

"I'll take her," Taylor said gently. "Her brother must be home by now. He'll know what to do with her." Taylor quickly snagged a calming drought and a dreamless sleep potion before gathering her to him and apparating away.

They appeared in the den. Hermione fell off the couch with a scream and Ron gasped as he rushed forward to take his sister from Taylor's arms.

"What happened?" Ron asked as Hermione rushed to the bathroom to get a bath started for Ginny.

Taylor wanted to sink into their couch but thought better of it when he remembered that he was covered in blood. "She had a baby girl die in her arms," Taylor whispered. "I brought her home. She wouldn't stop crying so I stole these potions from her stores." He handed over the vials.

Hermione immediately forced the calming drought down Ginny's throat before she started hyperventilating. Then she took Ginny from Ron and guided her to the bathroom.

"Tell her I'll see her at work tomorrow," Taylor said gently.

Ron nodded. "Thank you. She has a bit of a weak spot for children. She thought she wanted to work in the children's ward but she couldn't handle seeing pain on their faces so she switched her thesis halfway through. It almost got her kicked off the staff."

Taylor nodded. "As long as I'm her apprentice I'll try to steer her clear of any cases involving kids."

"Thanks," Ron said again with a sad smile. "Go home and get some rest yourself. You look like you need it."

Taylor left and Ron went to join Hermione with the onerous task of getting his little sister clean and in bed.

It didn't take long to get Ginny clean once the calming drought took effect and the couple left her curled around her stuffed dragon sleeping the sleep that only potions could induce.

"She'll be alright, right?" Hermione asked as she followed her husband back to the bathroom to help him clean up the blood staining the tub and floor.

"She'll sleep off the worst of it and'll put it behind her," Ron said softly. "She'll be chipper in the morning, that I can guarantee. Just be glad Mum wasn't here this time. Last time she fussed so much that Ginny had nightmares."

"That's when you invited her to move into our spare bedroom, right?" Hermione asked as she gathered up the stained clothes to put into the rubbish bin.

"Yeah, but you'll see, Hermione. Ginny's strong. She'll be fine."

III

Ginny rolled out of bed a little later than usual and was caught eating breakfast while clutching her toy, but otherwise she was okay. She went to work early to make sure she had time to check on Zabini before the daily rush of injuries took up all her time.

She walked into the private room and stopped short in the doorway. Zabini was sitting up in bed looking healthy but it was Malfoy who surprised her the most. The blond was asleep with his head pillowed in Zabini's lap.

He looked so innocent with his mouth parted slightly and his hair mussed. It was so strange how all that innocence faded into hard lines and cold words when he was awake.

"Good morning Mr. Zabini," Ginny said softly but happily. "It's so nice to see you awake." She bustled over and began checking all the colored dots that were hovering around Zabini's head. She banished the pulse and breath dots after one last check and watched as the rest of the dots faded away themselves.

"Are you alright, Weasley?" Zabini asked politely.

"I'm fine. Yesterday was nothing a good nights sleep wouldn't fix. Now, you're obviously sitting up. Is there any discomfort or pain from bending your body?"

"None," Zabini answered.

"Good. Now if you would lift up your shirt?" she asked. "Normally I would have you lying down for this but Malfoy needs his sleep more than I need a flat surface to examine." He complied and Ginny cast the spell that changed the colors of her stitches. Only the topmost stitches were visible as his skin had healed completely and all of those stitches were a welcome green color. Further probing showed that all the internal stitches had dissolved into the blood stream.

Ginny carefully cut and removed the green stitches and slathered some antiseptic on the wound before covering it with a thick bandage.

"Well, you're healed. But I wouldn't suggest anything strenuous for at least a week. Leave the fighting to the other idiots for a while."

"Ah, I don't fight; I'm not really a Death Eater. I just go to make sure Draco doesn't do anything stupid. He's far too brash to be left alone out there. If he's busy taking care of me he doesn't go off falling into traps or taking on more Aurors than he can handle."

"So he's the reason you were rushed to the hospital with a wand embedded in your gut." Ginny shook her head with disproval and pulled his shirt back down.

"Nah, that was just my bad luck. I was the one who insisted on hiding next to Ollivander's when someone got the bright idea to make the building explode. Besides, you can't blame Draco for being who he is. I think he's a nice person when he sets his mind to it. It's just that he's a bit on the violent side and happens to enjoy following the crazed ideas of a maniac more than listening to common sense."

"I still love Ron even though he's a complete prat so I can understand why you're friends with Malfoy even though he's an arse with poor judgment." Ginny shared a smile with Blaise and gently pulled the sheets up so Malfoy was covered up to his shoulders.

"I heard that," Malfoy hissed tiredly. "Someone's got to rid the world of Mudbloods and Muggles. The Dark Lord's the only one making an effort."

Blaise smacked him on the back of the head. "There are other ways to accomplish that without killing thousands of innocent people, Draco." Blaise shrugged helplessly at Ginny. "We've had this conversation before. Draco refuses to see reason."

"You do realize that you're following the orders of a hypocrite, right?" Ginny asked the waking blond. "Because Voldemort had a Muggle father and a pureblood mother."

Malfoy blinked at her in surprise. "What are you talking about you wretch?"

"So," Blaise quickly searched around for another subject to distract both warring parties. "Why do you have such a bad reaction around hurt kids?"

Ginny's face went white and she quickly took a seat in the nearby chair.

"I don't see how that's any of your business." Her voice trembled and she drew her knees to her chest. Blaise and Malfoy just looked at her until she dropped her eyes to the floor.

"I had a miscarriage about six years ago," she whispered. "It was third term so my baby was almost fully formed when it died inside of me. There was so much blood," she breathed shallowly and began shaking with tearless sobs. Blaise reached out and pulled her onto the bed with him to give her a little bit of comfort. Malfoy yelped and rolled to the side so she didn't fall on top of him. "I handled it badly," Ginny said tonelessly as she fought to get control back. "Harry handled it badly. We handled each other badly and we realized that we really weren't as compatible are we wanted to think we were. We canceled the wedding and went our separate ways. I've never been able to handle dieing children since."

Blaise gently stroked her hair and waited until she was under control again before letting go of her.

"So, am I ready to be released?" he asked with a bit too much happiness in his voice. Ginny's demeanor changed drastically as she went from torn up woman to Healer in half a second.

"As I already told you, nothing strenuous for at least a week. That means no fighting." She glared at Malfoy when she said the last. "If you experience any pain in the area or see blood in your urine, come back to St. Mungo's for some potions. I would also suggest light foods for a while until you are sure that your stomach can handle them. I don't want you to rupture that wound."

Malfoy stood from the bed and gently helped Blaise to stand up. Blaise waved Draco off with a smile and stood on his own.

"Thanks, Weasley," Blaise said with a smile. "You can expect a really nice Christmas present from me."

"Portus," Malfoy whispered as he pointed to one of Ginny's discarded gloves. The men bent down and picked up the glove. They were gone before Ginny could say, "you're welcome".

Taylor arrived at her office an hour later and Ginny couldn't help giving him an evil grin. He stepped back slowly until his back collided with the wall.

"Good morning, Healer Weasley," he stuttered with a worried half smile.

"Taylor, today you get to do real trainee work." Her grin widened when he blanched. "Mr. Zabini has gone home and his room needs to be cleaned. I have found that cleaning rooms is a wonderful way to perfect sterilization charms. Change the sheets, bring the biohazard box down to the disposal room, and make sure that everything is spotless."

Taylor grimaced. "Now I know why you wanted an apprentice. It's legendary around the hospital how you always manage to get someone else to do the clean up duties and as a trainee I can't say no."

Ginny smirked. "Exactly. But one of the medi-witches will be by in a few hours to take care of the rest. I just want you to get in the practice of cleaning up after me since I have you to order about for at least another year."

"You're evil," he grumbled but gave her a smile so she knew he was just being obnoxious rather than rude.

"Yeah, yeah," she flapped her hand at him. "Hurry up, will you? I've still got to actually teach you something today or Healer Jenson will get angry with me."

Taylor laughed. "If you say so." He left and Ginny sighed and pulled out the papers she needed to fill out. How was the hospital board going to understand that she had treated a patient but had never learned his name before releasing him?

She would never break patient confidentiality so if Blaise wanted to remain anonymous she would comply. Still, if she were going to be taking on the whole board over this that Christmas present had better be really damned nice.

III

Four days later found Ginny stumbling home after the third near disaster in triage. At least she was coherent this time as there hadn't really been too many injured people. The Death Eaters had attacked the Hogwarts Express as it ferried children from Kings Cross Station to Hogsmeade Station.

But the Aurors had been expecting something like this to happen ever since the Death Eaters went after the kids in Diagon Alley so had been more than prepared. The Death Eaters were the ones to take heavy losses and Harry was going to receive an Order of Merlin for his excellent defense.

Ginny was able to bathe herself and get into bed without help from Ron and was soon snuggled up with her stuffed dragon, happily sleeping away.

Her breathing evened out until she was fully unaware of anything around her. Only then did a slightly hazy form move into the open. It dropped a used medical glove on the exposed skin of her hand and carefully held on to one rubber finger as it waited. Seconds later the Portkey activated and girl, stuffed dragon, and disillusioned figure vanished.


	3. Chapter 3

Incuratus

Chapter Three

By Mell8

---------------

Ginny woke when her body collided with a hard stone floor. She gasped in fear as she opened her eyes and saw that she hadn't fallen out of bed like she originally thought, but was instead in a place she had never seen before.

The walls were made of hard grey stone and there was a tiny window high in one wall with bars in it. She finally noticed the door and to her dismay, Ginny saw that there wasn't even a handle on this side let alone a lock. She quickly checked for her wand but was unsurprised to find that it was missing.

"Weasley," a familiar voice drawled from her left. Ginny jumped and stumbled to her feet as Draco Malfoy dropped the disillusionment charm.

"Why am I here, Malfoy?" she hissed, fists clenched at her sides. "After all the time and hard work I spent on keeping Blaise alive you repay me by kidnapping me?"

"Look, Weasley. I didn't have a choice."

"You went to all that effort to sneak past Hermione's wards to transport me here against my will and you expect me to believe that this isn't your fault?"

"An important Death Eater found out that there was a healer willing to heal Death Eaters without too much coercion and ordered me to retrieve you. It would've been both our necks if I failed." Draco was gripping her upper arms harshly as he glared at her. "Do you think I wanted to willingly sully myself by going into that house with Weasleys and mudbloods?"

There was a thump behind them and suddenly Ginny could hear Blaise's voice speaking even though he hadn't been in the room mere seconds before.

"You had to give me the difficult job, Draco? This guy is heavy!" Blaise groaned.

Ginny ripped herself out of Malfoy's arms and spun around to see Blaise putting an unconscious Taylor on the ground with much more care than Malfoy had dropped her.

Ginny rushed to her apprentice's side and dropped to her knees. She let go of the stuffed dragon she had been clutching and quickly checked his pulse and other vital signs. He was okay, just a bump on the head, but Ginny was still furious.

"Why did you bring him into this?" she screeched. "He's just a boy!"

"Weasley, shut up!" Malfoy snarled. "You're going to need all the help you can get and he works well with you and is good with his wand in his own right. This way there isn't nearly as much pressure on you."

"Why does it sound like you're doing me a favor, Malfoy?" Ginny hissed as she gave him a curious glare. "And I'll need help with what? Why am I here?"

Malfoy sighed and pulled out his wand. "Ennervate," he grumbled as he pointed his wand at Taylor. Then he turned his wand on the door and waved it in a complicated unlocking charm.

The door sprung open and Malfoy stepped through. "Let's go, Weasley. I get to take you to meet that Death Eater," he sounded resigned. Blaise and a still half-asleep Taylor followed Malfoy and Ginny as Malfoy had reached back through the door and grabbed Ginny's arm and yanked her along with him.

They trooped down the empty hallways as they followed Malfoy to wherever he was leading them. They would have made quite a curious sight if there had been anybody to watch them. Ginny couldn't help wondering where anyone else was as they passed empty rooms and went through deserted hallways.

Leading them was the well-known Malfoy heir who was mysteriously clutching a Weasley in one hand. Said Weasley was dressed in an oversized t-shirt and short shorts and was holding the tail of a stuffed dragon in her free hand. Following them was the equally well-known Blaise Zabini, an oddity himself just for the fact that he was frequently around the Death Eaters but did not have a Dark Mark. Zabini had an eighteen-year-old boy's arm thrown over his shoulder because the boy seemed to be too stunned to walk straight on his own. The boy was dressed in only a pair of boxers and his brown hair was sticking up in fifty different directions.

Taylor was able to stand on his own by the time they reached the door of an office three flights up from the dungeons. Malfoy knocked politely and carefully stepped into the room. Ginny and the rest all followed Malfoy into the office.

"A Weasley, Draco? Are you positive this is a good idea?"

Ginny looked up to see the elder Malfoy sitting behind a large oak desk. His long blond hair was held back from his face by his signature black ribbon and his grey eyes were sharp and shrewd, much more so than his son's. He steepled his fingers in front of his lips and caught Ginny's eyes with a strong glare.

"Mr. Malfoy," Ginny said cordially. For a second Ginny had been worried that the younger Malfoy had been taking her to meet the Dark Lord. She was relieved to see the elder Malfoy despite his escapee status from Azkaban.

He looked over her attire and sneered. "Draco, she's hardly an appropriate choice." His lip curled at the way her baggy t-shirt hung on her lithe frame.

"Mr. Malfoy," she said again with a cold nod of her head. "I hope you understand that I was taken from my bed without my consent. Judging me by my clothing is hardly appropriate. Now, I would like an explanation as to why you felt the need to kidnap me and my apprentice."

Both Malfoys lifted an eyebrow at her gall.

"You are hardly in a position to be asking for anything, Miss Weasley," the elder Malfoy drawled coldly.

Ginny scoffed. "I know you haven't taken me because of my associations with Harry. Since you also took my apprentice, another healer, from his bed, it is my belief that you need me to heal someone."

"You are intelligent, at least," Malfoy sneered from behind his desk. "You are correct, I am in need of a healer." He paused and scrutinized her before continuing. "My wife is fading quickly from a curse she was unfairly hit with when she was out shopping two weeks ago. I am in need of a healer to combat this curse."

"Also," Draco butted in as his father paused. "Theo is quickly bleeding out and Greg can't leave his bed. I was hoping you would help them like you helped Blaise?"

Ginny looked up at Draco and saw the worry he hid behind cold eyes. It wasn't as strong as it had been for Blaise, but just the fact that it was present at all made Ginny wonder if Draco Malfoy was more human than he let on.

"I don't want to be a prisoner," Ginny said softly. "As healers my apprentice and I have immunity in war and we fully expect to receive all benefits inherent to our stations."

Malfoy laughed and stood from behind his desk. "I cannot allow you to leave the premises without more insurance than a Healers Oath."

Ginny clutched her stuffed dragon to her chest and glared at Malfoy.

"I have obligations to St. Mungo's that I cannot abandon." Her voice was harsh and cold. "You can't keep me here, not in good conscious."

"That is an interesting toy, Miss Weasley," Malfoy said as he strode around the desk and stopped in front of her. He gently gripped the tail and pulled it from her arms with a yank.

"No, give him back!" Ginny jumped forward and reached to take back her toy. "Please, give him back."

Malfoy smirked. "Is this toy important to you?" He dangled it out of her reach by the tail.

Ginny couldn't stop herself from nodding and looking pleadingly up at her dragon.

"Very well then, we now have collateral. If you do as you have promised and do not tell your little friends then you will get your…toy…back."

Ginny staggered. "Please, please," she whispered as she futilely reached one hand out towards her dragon. "I can't sleep with out him, I- I," tears dripped down her cheeks and she slumped.

Draco had to reach out with one arm to hold her up and couldn't stop a shocked look from skirting across his face at her vehemence for her toy. She was trembling against him and her eyes were wide and frightened as they tracked the dragon as Mr. Malfoy gently placed it down on a shelf behind his desk.

"Draco, take Miss Weasley to get herself cleaned up and then take her to Narcissa. Blaise, take Mr. Blanche to see Theodore."

They were led out of the office and Ginny's eyes didn't leave her dragon until the door closed behind her.

III

She slumped down in Malfoy's arms as soon as the door was closed and shuddered once before pulling away.

"He won't hurt your stuffed toy," Malfoy said almost gently. "My father is a strong believer in the barter system. He may use underhanded means to get to his ends but he will follow through on his promises."

"My dragon was a gift from my older brother Charlie," Ginny whispered as she followed Malfoy down the hall and away from the office. "I used to have terrible nightmares as a kid so he bought me that dragon to comfort me. It used to be animated before the spell wore off. It would fly behind me and crawl into my arms at night and it used to blow flames that ticked whenever I was sad. My Mum put a tracking spell on it once so she would always know where I was since the dragon had this little twist where it followed me everywhere. I think Charlie added on his own spells to it before he gave it to me."

"So that's why it's so important to you," Malfoy said looking confused.

"My dragon was there when I was possessed by You-Know-Who in my first year at Hogwarts and again six years ago when I lost the baby. He is my only constant friend; losing him would be awful."

Malfoy let the conversation drop as they stopped outside of another set of doors. He held open the door to a sitting room and led her over to a couch. A house elf popped in with tea and a change of clothes a few seconds later.

"I'll be back in a few minutes to let you change." He walked out of the room after the house elf and Ginny picked up the clothes. She had been given a standard blouse and trousers so it only took a few seconds to change.

When Malfoy returned she was dressed and enjoying her tea. It was caffeinated and she could already feel its wonderful powers of wakefulness working on her tired mind.

"Come, Weasley. My mother is awake and waiting for you."

Ginny stood and joined Malfoy at the door. He stepped ahead of her and led her down another hallway.

Three hallways later and Ginny was thoroughly lost. Without Malfoy as her guide she knew that it would be days until she found a way out.

They finally came to a stop at a large set of wooden doors. Malfoy knocked gently before pushing the doors open.

"Mother," he called softly. "I've brought a healer."

"Draco, darling," a soft female voice called weakly from the dark bed in the center of the room. "Are you sure that's wise?"

"Father has already seen her. Please, mother, let her heal you." Ginny heard the desperation in his voice and could tell that he loved her a lot.

This was yet more evidence that Malfoy had human feelings and it confused Ginny a lot. He had a best friend, cared for his mother, and had comforted her just now when her dragon had been taken away, all of which contradicted with what she remembered of him from school. Sure the cold exterior and intolerant opinions were just as present now as they had been then, but it seemed there was so much more to him than just hatred.

In a way, Malfoy reminded her of her brothers. He was sly and cunning, much like the twins, strong like Charlie, fierce like Bill, and a stickler for his particular viewpoints like Percy. Plus, he and Ron had the prat attitude down perfectly.

But Malfoy was more than just a one-dimensional personality. He was loving—to his mother at least—and tough. He took care of his own and was sensitive enough to see that she needed some reassurance about her dragon or she would have lost it. His hate was tempered with his humanity.

Draco Malfoy was certainly different and it both intrigued and confused her in a way that no male had since she was eleven and Harry hadn't immediately fallen to his knees at her feet proclaiming his love to her. She didn't like it.

"Bring her to me, Draco."

Ginny immediately moved forward so Malfoy didn't have to grab her again and dug out her best bedside manner in preparation. The woman lying in the bed was tall and thin but it wasn't a healthy sort of thinness. She was gaunt and pale with prominent cheekbones tightly covered by waxy skin. Her light blond hair was limp and looked prematurely grey in the half-light of the room and her cold blue eyes were glassy with exhaustion. One hand reached out to take her son's hand and Ginny could see every bone defined in detail beneath atrophied muscle.

"Mrs. Malfoy," Ginny said gently as she snapped from shocked woman to healer. "My name is Ginevra Weasley and I have been hired to heal you. I am going to have to ask you some basic questions about your health history before I examine you for clues to the spell you were hit with."

Mrs. Malfoy gave a weak nod and Malfoy gestured that it was okay for Ginny to continue.

First she went through the obligatory questions like, "Do you have any allergies to potions ingredients?", before asking about the day she had been cursed.

Narcissa Malfoy had been in Knockturn Alley collecting something (she wouldn't say specifically what) for her husband. She had stepped into Diagon Alley to stop by Gringotts when she had encountered the fighting.

"Do you remember the color of the curse that hit you?" Ginny asked gently. Mrs. Malfoy was quickly tiring so she began to wrap up their conversation.

"Yes," the woman whispered. "Yellow, but more of a mustard shade. It was a dirty sort of color more than anything."

"Thank you Mrs. Malfoy," Ginny said finally. "I want you to get some rest now."

Ginny stood and waited while the older woman closed her eyes and her breathing deepened into sleeping patterns. Once she was sure Mrs. Malfoy was asleep Ginny turned and led Malfoy out of the room.

Once they were in the hallway Ginny stopped and turned to speak with Malfoy.

"Can you heal her?" he asked just as Ginny opened her mouth to speak.

"I'm not sure," Ginny answered back with a frown. "I have a good idea what type of curse she was hit with though."

"Tell me!" Malfoy hissed as he pushed her threateningly into the wall. He hovered over her menacingly but Ginny just brushed him off.

"The curse your mother was hit with is not something I have ever seen before. It's clearly a dark curse so you might want to go about your Death Eater friends and ask them if they have an inkling as to what it might be. In the meantime," she continued in a louder voice when Malfoy opened his mouth to protest her accusation, "I would suggest making sure she drinks a lot of liquids. Light teas, herbal if possible, would be acceptable. I would also suggest feeding her chicken broth at least twice a day."

"Is that all you can do?" Malfoy snarled. "Give me remedies that even a Muggle could think of?" He shoved her back into the wall and kept his hands on her shoulders as he snarled directly into her face. "Heal her! If you're just stringing me along at my mother's expense then I'll kill you myself!"

"I was getting to that part!" Ginny hissed back. "I told you, I have a good idea of the type of curse she was hit with. There is a potion I can give her that will bolster her body for the time being. I also have a good place to start researching."

"Then why didn't you give her that potion just now?" Malfoy was still seething but he backed away from her so she could move off the wall.

"Because the only place I can get that particular potion is at St. Mungo's. I'll pick up a vial during my next shift. Your mother will be fine without the potion for another night. In fact, without the potion I would give her two weeks before I would start worrying. That's two months with the potion, which is plenty of time to figure out exactly what curse she was hit with and a cure."

"But you can heal her?" The desperation was back in his voice but he hid it valiantly behind a sneer.

"I will certainly try my hardest," Ginny said softly. "I can't promise anything, Malfoy. If I knew what the exact curse was I could give you a more definite answer."

"When will you know?"

"In two months." She looked unbelievably sad. "If I can't find the cure in two months I don't believe there will be one at all."

Malfoy snarled and was about to say something when Blaise jogged up the stairs, huffing a little as he stopped.

"Taylor can't stop the bleeding. Theo's getting worse."

Ginny was immediately at his side. "Tell me what's happening." She began to jog back down the steps with Blaise at her side. Malfoy was left to trail after them despondently.

"Theo was hit with a severing curse when we attacked the Hogwarts Express. When we got him back here we tried every spell we could think of to seal the wound and nothing has worked. Taylor tried everything he knew as well, but the bleeding has only increased."

Ginny nodded and quickened her pace. "We haven't gone over how to deal with wounds that won't close yet; that's advanced theory. I'm assuming that he's dosing Theo with blood replenishing potions?"

"Our supply is limited,' Blaise said with a shake of his head. "Taylor gave Theo one and a half bottles which only leaves us with half a bottle more."

Ginny looked worried and she doubled her speed again. "Malfoy," she called over her shoulder. "I'm sure you remember how to make a blood replenishing potion. Make yourself useful and whip up a cauldron?"

Malfoy sniffed. "Anything else?" His voice was disdainful but he caught up with them to actually listen to her answer.

"I'll need a list of all the potions you have stored here and of ingredients. Theo is going to need at least three more doses of blood replenishing potion and it sounds like Goyle is going to need Skele-Grow.

Blaise stopped her outside yet another wooden door and Malfoy continued on with a nod to her.

"Healer Weasley!" Taylor yelped as soon as the door opened. "I can't stop the bleeding! I don't know what to do!" He was jittery and his eyes were wide with fear. Theodore Nott was not in much better shape on the bed. Both were filled with panic.

"Taylor, first, you may call me Ginny whenever you need to speak quickly. Second, calm down. Panic will do no one any good." Her voice was deliberately calm as she soothingly drew her apprentice back from the bed with a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I want you to go to the sink and clean off the blood on your skin."

She took Taylor's place at Theo's side and gently pried the bandages from the wound. It was a deep gash, high on the man's inner arm and Ginny marveled that he still had blood left to bleed.

"Taylor, tell me why this is a dangerous spot for a wound this deep." She pulled out her wand and cleaned the area.

"It's right where triage doctors used to tie tourniquets because it's over the large artery."

"So, if he's cut there it's a good guess that the artery was severed?" Ginny asked as she used her wand to pry the wound open so she could reach deep into the gash.

"Oh," Taylor said with a frown as he slumped to the ground by the sink.

"To stop the bleeding you need to fix the cause of the injury. In this case it's the severed artery that needs to be reattached to the vascular system." As she spoke her wand was mirroring her words. Soon the bleeding had almost stopped and a few carefully placed stitching spells had the wound closed. Ginny fed Theo the rest of the blood-replenishing potion.

"Blaise, when Malfoy brings more blood potion please make sure that you give Theo one immediately and another twenty minutes later? I'll stop in tomorrow to check on him."

Theo had fainted from blood loss but would be all right. Taylor, on the other hand, was silently shivering.

"I messed up, Healer Weasley," he whispered when she looked at him. The pitiful look on his face made her heart go out to him.

"I told you to call me Ginny," she said with a smile. "And you didn't mess up, you just stopped thinking for a moment."

He scowled and turned his head away from her friendly smile.

"Fine, if you want to see a real mess up, go to the fourth floor potions workroom at St. Mungo's and take a look around," she smiled guiltily.

"That was you?" Taylor gasped as he stood. "That room is still in shambles!"

Ginny blushed with as much over exaggeration as possible before heading to the door. Taylor fell into step at her side.

"You didn't make a mistake in any of your attempts to heal Mr. Nott," Ginny went on as they followed Blaise down the hall to another room where Gregory Goyle was waiting. "Nor did you make a mistake when you sent Blaise to find me for help."

Taylor still looked despondent but he had to know. Ginny thought it was better for him to have made this particular mistake while still in training. She had seen countless Healers quit because they couldn't control their emotions in front of a patient. At least this way Taylor would have plenty of time to learn from his mistake and to grow from it.

"What you did do wrong was losing control of your emotions. Panic not only makes it that much more difficult for you to think, it frightens the patient to an extent that could worsen the situation."

"Panic increases the heart rate which in turn increases blood flow," Taylor said miserably. "That's why Mr. Nott kept getting worse even though I was sure my spells were having at least a small positive effect."

They reached Goyle's door and Blaise knocked.

"You're a brilliant Healer, Taylor," Ginny said with a smile. "I have met countless Trainees who would never have understood about the artery or have told me exactly why panic is dangerous. You have a strong healing gift so don't let one mistake hold you back." Ginny almost winced at the words coming out of her mouth. She knew it was what Taylor needed to hear but she was copying the exact words her old supervisor had told her after her first mistake. It made Ginny feel old.

"Thanks," Taylor said happily. "Let's go figure out why Mr. Goyle can't walk."

Goyle just had a pair of severely shattered kneecaps. By the time they had removed the millions of bone shards and administered the hastily brewed Skele-Grow Malfoy brought, it was nearing four in the morning.

Both Ginny and Taylor had taken full shifts at St. Mungo's the day before and, when added to the healing they had just finished and the emotional turmoil both had experienced over the night, exhaustion was a tame word for how tired they were.

Malfoy found himself at Ginny's side again when she wavered on her feet on her way out of Goyle's room.

"I don't think she can safely return home like this," Blaise said softly as he looked at the half asleep red head.

"I'll put her in one of the guest rooms," Draco shrugged. "Ask Taylor when her shift is and I'll have a house elf wake her in time to get to the hospital."

Blaise nodded and walked over to Taylor while Draco gently led Ginny down the hall to a bed.


	4. Chapter 4

Incuratus

Chapter Four

By Mell8

-----------------

"I is sorry, Master," a high, squeaky voice woke Draco from sleep and he groaned tiredly as he rolled over to see who had spoken. A house elf stood at his bedside ringing her hands nervously.

"What is it, Twinky?" Draco hissed as he rubbed an eye sleepily.

"I is sorry, Master, but the Master's guest is crying, Sir. Twinky is not knowing what to be doing about Miss Wheezy. Twinky will punish herself most horribly."

"What's wrong with Weasley?" he asked, suddenly much more alert as adrenalin coursed through his system. Draco slid his feet into slippers and found his dressing robe as the elf spoke.

"I is not knowing. Miss Wheezy cries but is asleep and she calls for her dragon. Twinky thought Master Draco might be her dragon because of your name, Sir. Shall Twinky iron her ears in punishment?"

"No, no punishment." Draco shook his head and walked past the elf and out of his room.

Ginny was crying in her sleep just as Twinky had said. The bed covers were tossed about like a miniature storm had struck the room and she was thrashing and moaning piteously. He heard her call for her dragon a number of times as he stood frozen in shock in the doorway and watched as she unconsciously groped around the bed searching for her stuffed toy.

"Weasley," he called softly as he moved towards the bed. "Wake up Weasley. Your dragon isn't here."

Draco watched as another tear slid down her cheek. He couldn't help feeling a bit remorseful at her pain, as it had been his fault that her dragon had been taken away in the first place.

He reached forward to shake her shoulder and hopefully wake her from her nightmare. "Weasley, wake up," he called as he gently gripped her shoulder.

She calmed at his touch and one of her hands reached out and clasped his forearm in a tight grip. Her back bent and her knees drew up to her chest as she curled around his arm like a dragon around her egg.

She sighed tearfully once before settling down and falling into calm sleep.

Draco tried to pull his hand free but quickly found that to be impossible. The woman had the grip of a kappa when it caught its prey. His arm was pressed against her breasts and bent knees and one of her hands clung to his.

The door to the room creaked open and Draco looked up to see Blaise peak his head into the room.

"I heard you leave your room," he said by way of explanation as he walked over to Draco. "What's going on?"

"Twinky woke me because Weasley was having a nightmare. I came here to wake her but now she's latched onto my arm and I can't get free."

"Why was she having a nightmare?" Blaise asked curiously as he moved forward to see if he could free his friend.

"No idea, but she was definitely telling the truth about needing her dragon to sleep. She almost tore the mattress up searching for that damned toy."

Blaise laughed. "Well you're well and truly stuck until she lets go. But talking about her dragon has given me an idea."

"An idea about what, Blaise?" Draco asked warily as he pulled futilely on his arm.

"Well, Christmas is in a few weeks and I was going to make a very large donation to St. Mungo's for her, but I've just gotten a better idea. You'll help me, won't you?"

Draco sighed. "I've no idea what you're talking about. Just get me free!"

"Aw, mate. I think it's cute. Draco, dragon, it fits! Besides, Draco," Blaise added as he pointedly looked at the clock that read eight o'clock. "She has to be awake in half an hour if she's going to have time to get ready for her shift at the hospital. It won't be that long until you get your arm back. Just stick with it for a bit and give her some uninterrupted sleep. It's a kindness she deserves after all she's done for us."

"What's she done for us?" Draco asked with a snarl. "Malfoys give charity to Weasleys, not the other way around."

"She has agreed to heal your mother and healed Theo and Greg while under coercion and without pay for her hard work. No one else could have made Greg walk again. She willingly spent an hour on her knees picking out minute pieces of bone when she could have just said it was impossible and walked away."

Blaise put a hand on his best friend's shoulder and looked him directly in the eyes. "You have to admit that she really is a wonderful person."

Draco looked down at the sleeping girl and grimaced. She was a blood traitor and a Weasley. That was two strikes against her before he even had to think about what Blaise had said.

But he looked at the strewn covers and the tear tracks still visible on her cheeks. She had seen pain and sadness and had made her own choices in life. Death Eater or Auror, she didn't discriminate, she did exactly what she knew to be right. He envied her that conviction.

He looked down his arm at the way she was curled and couldn't help smiling. She was like a baby, so innocent and pure. Her red hair was fanned around her small body and she clutched his arm like a babe seeking its mother for comfort or just for knowledge that someone else existed who cared about it.

And she was so damned selfless. He had seen her work herself to exhaustion numerous times for her patients, many of whom didn't deserve her care. Hell, he had seen her cry over a dead Muggle girl.

"She's too good for our world, Blaise," Draco whispered. "We have to protect her." He didn't know where those words came from but now that they were in the open, he found that he agreed with them whole-heartedly. If Voldemort, or even just a Death Eater worse than his father, caught sight of her…he shuddered to think of how she would suffer.

"Do you care for her?" Blaise asked gently.

Draco paused and slowly shook his head. "Not in the way you're implying. She interests me, true, but the affection I feel is more like what I'd give to a favorite pet than to a girl I liked."

Blaise looked skeptical but didn't push the issue. Draco would see, in time, just how much of a hold this innocent healer had on him. She had him from the moment she raised her voice to him while tied to a chair in her own patient's ward and it grew stronger every time she said or did something that shook Draco's faith to the core.

Blaise would give it time, but in the mean time…he smirked inwardly.

III

Ginny woke slowly from sleep to the buzzing sound of an alarm clock and a hand shaking her shoulder. She yawned and stretched out her body before opening her eyes sleepily.

Malfoy was standing at her bedside rubbing his arm and grimacing. "You're finally awake," he grumbled. "You have a half hour to get ready for work."

He turned and made his way to the door.

"Will you wake Taylor as well?" Ginny asked as she stood from her bed. "He has to be in at the same time as me today."

Draco turned his head to look at her as he paused in the doorway. "He opted to return home last night rather than staying in the bed I offered him." He shrugged and opened the door. "A house elf will be by shortly with breakfast for you."

He left and Ginny couldn't help thinking that he was acting oddly nice for some reason.

"I wonder why Taylor went home?" Ginny mused. "He must have been just as tired as me." She shrugged dismissively and went to find the bathroom.

The house elf brought food and clothing for her and Ginny was able to leave the Manor exactly on time for work.

"Tell Draco Malfoy that I'll be back after dinner tonight with the potions he asked for," Ginny instructed the house elf that was leading her to the door.

The elf bowed her out the door and Ginny disapparated with a pop.

III

Ginny returned home after her shift at St. Mungo's looking forward to a bath and a large dinner.

Ron was waiting impatiently on one of the couches in the den when she apparated in. His foot was tapping nervously and his mouth was twisted with worry. He stood immediately when she appeared.

"Ron? What's wrong?" Ginny asked as he rushed over to her.

"You disappeared last night!" Ron snarled. "We were so worried. I almost flooed Mum!"

"Oh!" Ginny gasped. "I'm so sorry, Ron. I should have left a note! I was called in on a private case at a witch's home late last night. They said it was an emergency so I rushed out." She felt horrible for lying but what Mr. Malfoy had said was true. Patient confidentiality was one thing but the threat he held over her dragon was the detail that was really keeping her words censored.

"You should have left us a note or at least woken someone up to tell us where you were going!" Ron collapsed back into the couch and took a deep shuddering breath. "If I hadn't owled the hospital asking if you were in yet, well I don't want to think about what I would have done!"

Ginny gasped and rushed forward to hug her brother. "I'm so sorry," she said again. "Alright, I'll tell you now so you won't be worried in the future," she added firmly. "I'm going to be taking longer hours at the hospital until this case has been healed. I'll also be spending some nights and most of my free hours at this witch's bedside."

She drew back from their hug and smiled at her older brother. He looked relieved and nodded his thanks.

"Now," Ginny said with a smile. "I'm starving and dirty. Who wants to be a good big brother and cook their baby sister something to eat while she showers?"

Ron laughed and ruffled her hair as he stood from the couch. "Yeah, yeah. Hermione's going to be home soon too so I was going to make something for all of us. Is that okay?"

"Yeah," she called over her shoulder. "I'm not going to be able to stay, though. I've got to be at this place tonight."

She could almost feel Ron's curiosity growing at her bland, information lacking answers so Ginny quickly turned and walked from the room before he could ask and she was forced to lie to him again.

Dinner that night was quiet. Hermione was exhausted from working long hours and Ginny didn't want to start a conversation just in case it turned to questions she couldn't answer.

Ginny sped through the chicken and rice Ron had whipped up before rushing off. She dressed stylishly but in clothing that she wouldn't mind having to throw out if she got too dirty.

"So do you think you'll be staying the night?" Ron asked as she rushed by the kitchen. He popped his head through the doorway and watched her pause by the door to pull on her shoes and grab her coat.

"Yeah, I think so," Ginny answered. She hefted her small suitcase to show him that she had packed. "But I'm not sure. It depends on if my patient's body rejects the medicine. I also have to run some more tests."

"All right," Ron sighed. "Just be careful, Ginny. You can't know how good the wards are at this person's house. I don't want you kidnapped by Death Eaters."

Ginny smiled at him but luckily Ron wasn't looking as a large explosion of bubbles had just strewn from the sink. She knew her smile looked forced and the strain around her eyes would have been obvious to her battle-trained brother.

She had turned her back on the kitchen and was opening the door when he was able to look back again. "See you later, Ginny," he called and Ginny waved at him over her shoulder before shutting the door and Apparating away.

III

"So, Weasley," Malfoy said softly as he gazed over her shoulder at his slumbering mother. "Is the potion okay?"

Ginny carefully leaned over the emaciated woman and gathered the tray off her lap. A house elf quickly appeared and took the tray from her but before it left she grabbed the empty potion bottle and pocketed it. It was recyclable and what with the war sapping all the money that would normally be used for other, less important, things like having new glass bottles blown for the hospital, she knew that saving even one bottle could potentially save someone's life in the future.

Ginny smiled at Malfoy and nodded as she led them out into the hallway where they could speak in normal tones.

"I would have a house elf monitor her tonight," Ginny said gently. "If she begins to throw up then the potion didn't work. But usually a rash accompanies that result immediately after consumption, which I didn't see any sign of."

Draco looked relieved and smiled gently at her in thanks. Ginny blinked just to keep herself from staring and quickly turned away from Malfoy and began walking down the hall towards Theo's room.

He had smiled? She was so used to seeing his cold, rather evil grin, or his smirk, or even a hard scowl. What was he doing smiling like that and making her heart jump in strange palpitations?

She decided that the best way to handle this strange sickness Draco's smile was giving her was to ignore it and hope it went away.

"I gave Twinky, a bag full of potions ingredients and a few completed potions along with the bag of extra potions for your mother," Ginny called over her shoulder to Malfoy who was following her.

"I'll make some more blood replenishing potions for Theo then," Draco said with a nod to himself.

"Not yet." Ginny held out a hand to stop him from rushing past her to wherever he kept his cauldron. "Blood replenishing potions are risky if they're taken repeatedly. I need to see how much blood his body is making on it's own compared to how much more blood he actually needs to replace. If his body is doing fine naturally then the potion could create too much blood and he would start bleeding out of his nose and ears."

"Ah," Draco said delicately. "Then I will wait until after you've checked him over." His tone was dry and made her giggle softly.

"Oh! There you are Weasley!" Blaise called out as they rounded the last corner. "Your apprentice is checking on Theo right now," he gestured towards the door Ginny was aiming for.

"Taylor is here?" Ginny asked, surprised. "He left so quickly after work. I thought he had something important to take care of at home and couldn't come here tonight."

She pushed open the door and sure enough, Taylor was standing next to Theo's bed prodding a hovering sphere with his wand.

"So, what's your diagnosis, apprentice?" Ginny said in her harshest voice but with a smile on her face that showed she was just joking around with the young man. Taylor jumped and spun around in surprise. "And what the heck is that sphere?"

"Healer Ginny," Taylor gasped. "I was just…" he trailed off and gestured to Theo and Goyle, who, Ginny just noticed, was sitting in the chair on the far side of Theo's bed.

"Tell me your diagnosis, Taylor," Ginny said gently and she stalked over to Goyle with the strictest look on her face she could muster. "And what are you doing out of bed Mister?" she asked coldly. "You shouldn't be putting any weight on your knees for at least two more days!"

"Relax," Blaise smiled as he threw an arm around Ginny's shoulders. "I levitated Goyle here in that chair. He hasn't put any weight on his knees. Now, let Taylor talk before he collapses from nerves."

Ginny laughed and patted Blaise on the arm before pulling away and turning to Taylor.

He took a deep breath and nodded once before speaking. "The artery has completely reattached itself to the vascular system. There are no holes in the artery wall and the blood cells are flowing smoothly. The wound has closed and the stitches are ready to be removed."

Ginny nodded and moved next to her apprentice. She checked the wound herself and found that Taylor had gotten everything correct.

"Very good," Ginny said with a smile. "Now, I want you to take out the stitches and cast Episkey on the wound. Then you can tell me what this sphere is."

Taylor nodded and bent over Theo's arm as Ginny examined the sphere while watching Taylor work out of the corner of her eye. It was multi-colored like a three dimensional pie chart with each segmented section a different color. Ginny experimentally touched the black pie slice and gasped as it widened into a full circle and the other colors were pushed behind it.

The black circle showed the inside of the healing artery just as one of her dots would have done. She studied it for accuracy and found it to be perfect. When she pulled her finger away the circle shrank back into it's tiny slice. She touched the larger blue one and it too enlarged into a circle. It pulsed in time with Theo's breathing.

"Taylor, this is amazing," Ginny breathed in surprise. Somehow he had managed to condense all the myriad of dots that would usually be hovering annoyingly above a patient's head into one small, compact, system. "This invention would certainly get you a permanent place on St. Mungo's staff."

Taylor blushed and carefully clipped off the last stitch and pulled out his wand. "Episkey. It still has some kinks. I've been testing it on dolls that I've spelled to mimic heartbeats and human breathing. I can't get it to activate an alarm or to send out a dot to the closest healer if the vitals fail. Sometimes it also mistakes the heart beat with breathing and I've found that a stomach gurgle mixes all the colors up until all I've got is an awful brown blob." He shrugged and tapped the sphere once with a finger. It vanished with a pop.

"Cast one on me please," Ginny said with a smile and a scholarly look on her face. Taylor nodded and after a moment of concentration and a wave of his wand, another sphere appeared over her head.

"I want you to cast one on me whenever we are working together," Ginny said with an excited smile. "I want you to study it and learn why it's not working yet. I also want you to see if there are any side effects on the patient."

"Of course, Healer Weasley," he smiled. "Umm, I have to go home now. I just stopped in to apologize to Mr. Nott for yesterday and to see if I could help you out any."

"Very well then," Ginny said with a nod. "When are you going to be at work tomorrow?" They walked towards the door together. Taylor took off his gloves and threw them in the trash.

"We both have the early shift, six to twelve," he said with a shrug. "I guess we both pulled the short straw this week."

"Why?" Ginny asked curiously. "I mean, I know the early shift sucks but that doesn't seem like too much of a bad draw."

Taylor laughed. "Didn't they tell you?" he asked. "Starting tomorrow, next week is your week on call. Since I'm your apprentice I get called in whenever you do." He sounded worried about that and that concerned Ginny.

"I hate being on call just as much as the next healer," Ginny began as she handed Taylor his coat. "But why are you so worried?"

He grimaced. "I have an…issue…at home that makes it bad to leave suddenly at night. Being kidnapped yesterday was horrible."

"Ah," Ginny said even though she didn't understand at all. "Well, if it's that big of a problem I'll ask that you only be called in for absolute emergencies."

"You can do that?" Taylor asked with so much relief in his voice that Ginny was happy she had decided to mention it despite what it meant for her.

"Yes, but you have to get this problem resolved before you become a full healer. The hospital won't allow you to skive off your week then."

"I know, Ginny. Thank you so much!"

Taylor strode out of the room with a smile and shut the door behind him. Once Ginny was sure he was out of earshot she moaned and rubbed her face with her hands.

"Damn it," she swore. The sphere popped and disappeared but Ginny only took absentminded notice. "I hate being on call."

"What's going on, Weasley?" Draco asked impatiently. "And do I need to bring more blood replenishing potion?"

"No, no potions, Malfoy," Ginny sighed and walked over to Goyle. She called up all the dots she needed to monitor him as she worked and couldn't help marveling at how much simpler Taylor's sphere had been. She couldn't wait for it to be finished.

"Yeah, but what's this whole business with being on call?" Blaise sat down on the end of Theo's bed.

Ginny sighed. "At night there are only one or two healers working at St. Mungo's. It's impractical to keep more on staff when usually hardly any patients ever show. But once in a while something drastic happens like the one time a baby mandrake decided to start crying at a Ministry hosted party and all the guests were temporarily knocked unconscious. When something like that happens, the healer on call is the first one to get flooed to come into work.

"My first year was easy. I was only called in once to assist a surgery to remove a bowtruckle from a very inconvenient place. During my second year I was in the field and was therefore exempt. Every year since I've found some way to get out of it. This year I was hoping that my lovely apprentice would take over for me, but I guess not. I wonder why he can't do it?" She groaned and bent down on her knees to prod Goyle's knees with her wand.

The bone was healing nicely and the tendons and ligaments were adjusting to the new joint bones with excellent alignment. She was pleased with her work because in two days Goyle would be walking again. She told him that and watched as the smile bloomed on his pudgy face.

"We owe you a blood debt, Weasley," Goyle murmured slowly.

Theo nodded solemnly. "You saved both of our lives. We owe you."

"No, but…it's my job!" Ginny gasped. "You don't…" but the looks on both Theo's and Goyle's faces were adamant.

"I think I might know why Taylor can't be on call," Blaise said as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

Malfoy finally walked fully into the room and took the only open chair as his friend skillfully changed the subject from something that was clearly making Ginny uncomfortable.

"Oh, why do you think?" Ginny asked with a questioning lilt to her voice.

"Well, when I went to his house to pick him up yesterday," he looked a little sheepish for saying, 'pick him up', when he clearly meant kidnap, "I had to go into his house. Well of course I did. But he lives in this tiny two-room apartment. His kitchen is basically his living room. They have one bedroom that he was sharing with a little girl. I don't know if she was his kid or his sister but she couldn't have been older than three."

Ginny gasped. "No wonder he's always rushing home!"

The door to the room banged open suddenly and it was scary just how quickly five wands were pointed towards the panting witch standing there.

"Draco! Crabbe's been hit with the dark magic form of the conjunctivitis curse," Pansy Parkinson gasped out. She was covered in puss and giant sized crusties and her Death Eater mask was clutched in one hand.

"Luckily for him our healer is here," Draco said dryly. "Weasley?"

Ginny stood and hurried over to Parkinson. "Lead the way."

Everyone except the bed-ridden patients rushed from the room.

III

In a darkened office just up a few flights of stairs on the other side of the house the door creaked open and a figure crept inside. The dark shadow of a man could be seen on the floor from the light of the moon shining through the window and the flickering fire in the hearth. He tiptoed his way across the floor and behind the desk to where a stuffed dragon sat innocently on a shelf.

The man sitting in the desk chair who had been contemplating the fire looked up as the intruder walked over to the toy, picked it up, and pocketed it. He didn't say anything, instead only nodded once before returning his gaze to the flames.

The shadowed figure slipped out of the room and down the hall and disappeared into the depths of Malfoy mansion, one hand idly petting the furred head of the dragon in his pocket.


	5. Chapter 5

Incuratus

Chapter Five

By Mell8

------------------

Parkinson didn't question what a Weasley was doing in Malfoy Manor healing people. She just looked relieved that there was a healer around at all. She led them down the hall as she explained just how Crabbe had come to be hit with such an odd curse.

"He said something stupid," Pansy said with a sardonic shake of her head. "The Lestranges took offense."

"Surely Aunt Bella wouldn't cast the Conjunctivitis Curse," Malfoy said harshly.

Pansy sniffed. "Of course she wouldn't do that. Rodolphus is the one who decided to get creative. Your Aunt spent five minutes hitting Crabbe with the Cruciatus Curse first."

"But Bella doesn't torture for fun. She only attacks blood traitors and Muggles!" Draco sounded outraged at this accusation and his glare didn't leave Pansy's back as they rounded another corridor and reached the main staircase.

Even Ginny couldn't help laughing at how naïve Draco sounded. Pansy looked shocked and then excited for this chance to actually put Draco in his place.

"Trust me, Draco." Pansy looked down her nose at the taller man with a haughty expression on her face. "Your Aunt and Uncle are completely insane. They enjoy torturing for fun and would kill their own child if they thought they could garner some amusement from it. You should ask your father some time about who usually metes out punishment when the Dark Lord has finished his own fun." She sounded so weary of this talk of punishment and pain.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked. "You sound like you're not happy with your life."

Pansy's foot echoed through the empty entrance hall as she stomped it down with more force than was necessary.

"I don't like Muggles and I hate blood traitors. I hate you, Weasley," she hissed. "But what I hate even more is senseless violence. Muggles may be stupid creatures that need to be exterminated, but it just reminds me of stepping on ants. We're so much stronger and better than them so why should be belittle ourselves by taking time out of our lives to notice that they exist? Besides, I think torture for fun is wrong. Torture should be something done for a purpose, information gathering or punishment, not because you feel like it."

Blaise was bouncing as he walked next to Draco. "You see?" he crowed. "I'm not the only one who feels that way! She just reiterated everything I've been saying." Draco sniffed and turned his head away from his friend. "Ginny, you're not a Death Eater or an Order member. What do you think?"

"Are you asking me because you think I don't have a bias?" Ginny asked with a laugh. "You're wrong, I have a healers bias. I think torture is wrong because it hurts others. I think death is wrong, period. My greatest wish is for war to not exist so I could continue on with my boring life healing idiots who accidentally slice off their fingers while trying to make an illegal potion. I think Voldemort," the others flinched, "is horrible because he kills and tortures people for fun. He's a half blood himself but he goes about killing anyone who he considers to be "impure". I don't hate the Order as much because for the most part all they do is defend themselves. They try save innocents with many of their actions. But I've still seen the mangled bodies of Death Eaters that some Order members will leave behind."

"So you're just against war entirely," Blaise said with a nod. "I like that stance. I hate the senseless violence of the Death Eaters but I could never join the Order. Complete neutrality, like the Swedish."

They stopped and Pansy pushed open the door to the guest room closest to the Apparation hall. Ginny rushed in when she heard the familiar sound of pained groans.

She recognized the brutish man lying on the bed from the boy who had tormented her at school. He had his hands clasped carefully over his eyes and puss was dripping between his fingers. She could see his hands trembling as he resisted the need to itch.

"Scourgify!" Ginny waved her wand and the dripping puss and crust disappeared. "Now, let me see please," she said in her best healers voice. She slowly peeled Crabbe's hands away from his eyes and gasped at how red they were. This wasn't the normal version of conjunctivitis. This was a form meant to torture the victim.

Ginny quickly began casting anti-swelling charms and more cleaning spells to keep the puss away.

"Malfoy or Blaise, would one of you please find Twinky and get my potions bag? I need the bright pink potion in that bag."

Zabini nodded and left the room at a jog. Ginny kept up with her spells until he returned, pink potion in hand.

"I learned something interesting when I was studying with Muggles at their hospital," Ginny explained as she carefully shook the potion flask before uncorking it. "They use fungus for one of their more frequent medicines. This medicine cures bacterial conjunctivitis extremely well. For a while I've been trying to recreate the effect with magic but have found that I can only enhance the effects of the original medicine." She poured out a specific amount into a glass and had Crabbe drink it. Exactly thirty seconds later the red faded and the puss stopped flowing. His eyes still itched terribly but it was fading as the potion went to work.

"You'll need to drink exactly one tablespoon twice a day, with breakfast and dinner, until this flask is empty. Your eyes should be fine." Ginny smiled and cleaned both her and Crabbe's hands with a spell. "Now, I would suggest getting some sleep so the potion can work it's way through your body without interruptions."

Crabbe nodded and mumbled a soft "thanks", before settling into the bed and drifting off to sleep.

They all left Crabbe and Pansy alone in the room and began heading back upstairs.

"Draco," Ginny said tentatively. "Do you think it would be possible for me to sleep with my dragon tonight? I won't take it from your home. I'll even sleep in your father's office if that would make it better!"

"Why ask now? You didn't ask for it last night," Draco asked gently. He knew from his multiple experiences just how sensitive this subject was.

"I didn't think of it," Ginny said honestly. "But now I'm gong to be on call for the next week which means I won't be sleeping anyway. I wanted to sleep well tonight in preparation."

Draco looked over at Blaise who nodded with a smirk.

"Very well, Weasley," Draco said with a nod. "Just for tonight though. My father won't notice if I take the dragon for one night."

She squealed and jumped on Draco with a huge hug. He stood stiffly for a second with his arms at his sides while she clutched at him with happy tears in her eyes. Then Blaise reached out, grabbed one of his arms, and wrapped it around Ginny's back. Draco didn't wait for Blaise's pointed look to tell him to do the same with his other arm.

They stood like that for a few minutes, Ginny sniffling happily in his arms and Draco pleased that she was in his arms at all.

Blaise snuck off to let them have a private moment. Once he was out of sight he carefully pulled Ginny's stuffed dragon out of his pocket.

"Now, I'm going to spell you until you return to the creature that followed little Ginny around when she was younger," Blaise spoke to the inanimate creature. "Taylor has already agreed to help, as have Goyle and Theo. Draco will help because I'll make him and maybe I can get Crabbe and Pansy to help out as well. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

He made the dragon's head nod with his hand and smiled at the stuffed fanged face. "It'll be our little secret, okay?" Blaise added. "It's our thank you present to Ginny, so don't tell her yet!"

He turned and walked back to where Ginny was sheepishly pulling herself out of Draco's arms. He put the dragon down on her head and she jumped, grabbed the dragon, and proceeded to hug the living daylights out of it.

"Go on up to bed, Weasley," Draco said, sounding a little uncomfortable. "I'll have a house elf wake you at five thirty."

"Thanks," she said with a smile before turning and hurrying up the stairs to her borrowed room. The dragon's tail was clutched strongly in one hand.

Draco just stood there with his arms held out in shock as she disappeared further into the house.

"What?" Blaise asked with a knowing smile. "Did you like holding her?"

"My arms are tingling," Draco whispered. "Why do I feel like this?"

"You like her more than as a favored pet," Blaise said knowingly. "It felt good to hold her and last night you liked how she curled around you. She's not like the rest of her family. She isn't crude or insane or snobbish like the four brothers we met while in school. She isn't even a blood traitor, not really. She just doesn't fight at all."

"She is certainly something different," another voice called as he came up behind Draco and Blaise. They spun and found Lucius Malfoy walking up the hallway towards them. "I've been watching her carefully," he explained. "I don't trust Weasleys as a rule and it seemed a little far fetched that she would hold to the secrecy she promised because of a toy." He sneered but it quickly faded to confusion. "But I saw her last night when she was having a nightmare; Twinky woke me as well. And I've listened to everything she's had to say over the past few hours. She's so genuine." He shook his head. "I almost regret dragging her into this."

"What are you saying, father?" Draco asked cautiously.

"She's too good for you, Draco. Hell, she's too good for all of us."

"But she's here now," Blaise said softly. "It's too late to drag her out."

"True," Lucius said. "You don't know how much I respect you for the fact that you haven't gotten branded yet. You can still escape from this mess. Draco and I are stuck here until we are released."

"What are you talking about?" Draco gasped.

"I joined the Dark Lord because of peer pressure," Lucius said sadly. "My friends were joining, my father wanted me to join, and I thought I didn't have a choice. Now I've made the same mistake and have pressured you into becoming a Death Eater too."

"But Aunt Bella says…" Draco began but was interrupted.

"Bellatrix is the perfect Death Eater," Lucius explained. "She kills indiscriminately for sport and she is willing to bow to a hypocrite who cannot even kill a baby boy because of his own arrogance. I agree with many of his ideals but his methods annoy me and your Aunt is insane."

Lucius shook his head at his son's shocked expression. "Do you ever think for yourself, Draco?" Lucius said sadly. "I thought I raised you better."

He turned to Blaise with a smile. "Now, whatever you're planning on doing to that toy of hers, you must make sure that you add an invisibility spell in case she goes out among Muggles. I'm willing to aid you with that if you wish."

"Why?" Draco asked with a sneer to hide the actual curiosity in his voice.

"Because she is healing my wife and your friends to the best of her abilities despite the fact that I have threatened her and it is a severe curtailing of her free time, which is especially amazing considering it's all after a long day of work. We owe her a great debt, Draco."

Lucius walked away with a nod to both boys. Draco couldn't help swearing in confusion.

He shook his head and walked away from Blaise. "I need to think," he mumbled softly. Draco made his way outside and into the gardens leaving Blaise behind with a huge smile on his face.

"Finally," Blaise whispered happily.

III

Ginny got off work a half hour late because of an elderly woman who had tried to hex her wrinkles off and had instead removed all the skin on her face. She stopped by her office on the way out to pick up three large healers tomes on obscure cases involving various wasting curses and other similar occurrences so she could study while she was waiting to see if she would be called in.

It's not like she would sleep anyway. Blaise had taken her dragon back before she had even gotten dressed this morning. He looked anxious to have it back and had mentioned Lucius Malfoy so Ginny had allowed it without too many protests.

Still, the oddest thing to happen today was the fact that Taylor had called in sick. It was a running joke around the hospital that sick days for healers who could fix themselves up with more ease than it would take to write an owl telling the hospital they were sick, were really extra vacation days. Ginny herself had once called in sick for the entire week she had been on call and had spent the time resting at the Burrow with her parents.

Ginny went home for a quick lunch by herself and changed out of her healers robes for a quick nap that was much shorter than she would have liked because of the horrendous nightmares that had woken her.

She stopped into Malfoy Manor quickly and checked on all her patients. Goyle was getting restless from being immobile and his knees were almost healed so Ginny gave him permission to take short, slow walks around his room as long as he promised not to strain himself.

Theo was healed so she gave her permission for him to return to whatever it was he did for the Death Eaters as long as he was careful with his arm for the next week.

Crabbe jumped up and gave her a bone crushing hug the second she stepped into the room. His eyes were fine and he was taking his potion doses so Ginny told him he could return to work as well. It was lucky that the spell-induced form of pink eye was not contagious or Ginny would have everybody in the Manor on potions as well.

Her last stop was to check on Mrs. Malfoy. The woman looked better after one dose of the potion. Her body had filled out to slightly healthier proportions and she wasn't as tired. Ginny thought that the woman would be able to walk around or to sit in the gardens by next week.

"I won't be here tonight," Ginny explained as she fluffed the Malfoy matriarch's pillows to make her more comfortable. "So you have to make sure to take your medicine before you go to sleep for the night."

"Thank you very much," Narcissa said with a weak smile.

Ginny smiled and set the potion flask on her bedside table before taking her leave.

Her next task was to visit Taylor. If he were really sick she was sure he would have come to her for healing. The fact that he had skipped work either meant something bad had happened to him or to the girl Blaise had mentioned yesterday.

Taylor's apartment was in the worst part of Wizarding London as it could get without it being in Knockturn Alley. Ginny clutched her wand protectively to her chest as she walked up the rotting stairs to the floor Taylor's home was on.

She had no idea her apprentice lived in such squalor. He was paid a small stipend from the hospital for his work and had been making quite a bit of overtime because of all the hours he had spent rushing around triage. Surely it was enough for him to live in a slightly better neighborhood?

She reached the door and knocked briskly and stood there waiting for a few minutes while rustling sounds echoed from behind the closed door. Finally it opened and an exhausted Taylor stuck his head out.

"Healer Ginny?" he gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"You missed work today. I wanted to make sure you were okay," Ginny answered back softly. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Taylor looked conflicted for a moment but a loud coughing noise from behind him made him flinch and move away from the door. Ginny took the initiative and pushed past Taylor and into his apartment.

The room she entered was clean but threadbare. It reminded her of the Burrow when her mum had been too busy to keep up with the mending charms. There was a small beaten table and a few chairs in one corner and a couch with fuzzies hanging out in the middle. The kitchen was off to one side with chipped dirty dishes in the sink.

The coughing was emanating from the bedroom so Ginny walked across the apartment and into that room.

There was a mattress on the floor and laying on it was a sleeping girl. She coughed again and rolled over with a whimper. Taylor rushed into the room behind Ginny and gently rolled the girl onto her back before casting a cooling charm on her.

The girl was tiny, no more than three, and she looked sick. Her brown hair was limp and lifeless and her tiny body shook with weak tremors.

"Taylor, who's this?" Ginny asked.

"My cousin, Amy," Taylor said sadly.

Amy coughed pitifully and Taylor retrieved a bottle of water from her bedside and bent the straw so she could take a drink.

"What happened to her?" Ginny asked as Amy sighed and closed her eyes.

Taylor just shook his head and motioned for Ginny to leave the bedroom. Taylor closed the door behind them, leaving a crack so he could hear anything coming from the room.

"My Uncle was a Death Eater," Taylor began after they had taken seats on his old couch. "He was killed fighting the Order when Amy was one. My Aunt went nuts. I guess she thought that the Order would be coming for her next, so she took drastic measures."

"Oh, no," Ginny gasped, guessing where this was going.

"My Aunt made a tea," Taylor whispered. "She stuck some yew leaves and seeds in hot water. Then she filled Amy's bottle with it. My Aunt just ate the seeds."

Taylor shook his head as his eyes filled with tears.

"She had invited me over for dinner that night; said she needed the company after Uncle... When I got there she was dead. There was a note on the table next to a warm cup of tea. It said, "Drink, nephew, and it will save your life". I found Amy on the floor, convulsing, and called for help.

"The healer said there was no cure for yew poisoning, but the fact that Amy survived for so long without respiratory aid meant that it wouldn't be the yew that was going to kill her. Her heart was damaged and her lungs. The healer said it was only a matter of time."

"Why are you taking care of her?" Ginny asked as she wiped away a few tears of her own. Her poor apprentice!

"My mom was, until she died last year," Taylor answered with an easy shrug that belied his pain. "My dad was around just long enough to make me before he ran off. It was just me and Amy and she's all I've got left."

Ginny resisted giving Taylor a hug. He wouldn't appreciate it no matter how hurt he looked. Instead Ginny focused on other things.

"What are you doing to keep her alive?" Ginny asked in her Healer's tone.

"She's got a spell on her heart that's holding it together and keeping it beating," Taylor said with a shake of his head that let her know that he didn't know which spell specifically. "She's normally on a respirator, but then she caught this cold and has been coughing too much to keep it on."

Ginny shook her head. "That's what the other healer did to keep her alive. What are you doing?"

"Going to school to become a healer!" Taylor snapped. "Every day I learn so much from you and healer Jenson. I learn poisons from Jenson, and complementary medicine from you. I figure that if I find a way to mix the two of them, I might be able to find a cure for yew poisoning and save Amy."

"Alright," Ginny said thoughtfully. "Well, we can do more. I have a pass to the healer's library, which has much more comprehensive material. You're allowed to use it if you declare before the hospital board what your thesis is."

"Really?" Taylor asked, excited. "I've already gone through the trainee library, and it didn't have anything."

"Tomorrow, go before the board and declare that your thesis is curing poisons with complementary medicine," Ginny ordered. "I'll also switch the material I've been teaching you from wounds to potions."

Taylor's eyes shone with gratitude. "Healer Weasley, I can't ever thank you enough!"

"Don't thank me. I haven't actually done anything. I just pointed out what you could have figured out on your own."

Taylor shook his head. "I was out of ideas. Amy has this cold and I couldn't get any more research material. I thought this was the end. If Amy doesn't get over this cold, it is the end."

Ginny frowned at Taylor. "Well, there is no cure for the common cold, that's true. And she can't have Pepper Up potion with her heart in the shape it's in. We'll just have to do this the old fashioned way. Do you have a floo I can use?"

"Yeah, what for?" Taylor asked as he pointed towards the sooty fireplace that was missing bricks and was generally in the same shape as the rest of the threadbare and rundown apartment.

"I'm going to call my mum," Ginny said with a grin.

Ginny took a pinch of floo powder from Taylor's pot on the mantle and threw it into the fire.

"The Burrow!" she yelled before thrusting her head into the flames. "Mum!" Ginny yelled.

Her head was looking out of the little portable flame holder that lived in the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley was cooking, her graying red hair was up in a tight bun and her apron covered her old robes. Aside from the graying hair, Ginny thought that her mother hadn't changed in over ten years. Molly turned immediately when her name was called.

"Ginny!" Molly said warmly. "How is everything? Have you decided to quit that terrible job of yours yet?"

"Everything's fine," Ginny replied. "And no, I'm not going to quit. I have a request for you, though."

"Well, what is it?" Molly asked, clearly not liking the suspense of her only daughter holding back what could be vital information about possible grandkids.

"I have a little girl here with a cold," Ginny explained. "She can't take Pepper Up, so I was hoping that some of your amazing chicken soup might make her feel better."

Molly melted, just as Ginny knew she would. Kids were her only weakness. The Weasley matron immediately pulled out her wand and called carrots and celery and her best knives out and began chopping and peeling.

"Now, Ginny," Molly said as she waved her wand and her largest pot hopped down off the shelf and filled itself with water. "I don't care if he already has a kid. Becoming a stepmother is a perfectly good way of getting me grandkids. It's wonderful that you're finally dating again!"

"Mum!" Ginny groaned and heard Taylor choke behind her. "Taylor is my apprentice at work! He's only eighteen!"

"That's hardly too young, dear. A couple more years apart than I would normally have considered, but you are getting older, so you have to take what you can get."

Molly seemed perfectly at ease as she embarrassed her daughter completely. She added cleaned chicken breasts and some extra chicken bones to her broth and the cut vegetables. Her spice drawer opened itself and a few bottles shook themselves over the water. A spoon unhooked itself from the rack over the fire and began to gently stir.

"I'm not in any relationship right now, mum," Ginny tried to explain. "I'm doing a favor for a friend. There is no dating or making of grandbabies involved."

"Yes, dear," Molly said absentmindedly as she turned back to the dinner she had been making before. "Tell your young man that this will be ready in a few hours. It's guaranteed to cure any cold. I'll send it through the floo when it's ready."

"Bye, mum," Ginny said and didn't bother waiting for her mother to answer before pulling her head out of the fire.

"So we're dating now?" Taylor laughed.

"Hardly," Ginny snapped. "She's just got it into her head that because she married at eighteen, I should have too. Now she thinks I'm never going to settle down. Crazy old lady," Ginny said fondly but with anger in her voice.

"I'm sure my mum would have gotten there eventually," Taylor said with a smile. "But she was too busy with Amy and then she got sick too." He sighed. "Thank you for coming over."

"You haven't gotten rid of me yet," Ginny said as she checked her watch and saw that she had a few more minutes before Ron would start to miss her. In the interests of delaying the inevitable, that of going home to be on call all night, she decided there was more she could do for Taylor.

"Let me show you some charms we used around my house when I was growing up. I've got a great one that will keep the fuzzies in the couch and stop them from turning into rabid dust bunnies."

Together, Ginny and Taylor worked until the couch looked only like an old hand-me-down and not a trash bin requisition. The fireplace was soon soot free and new mortar held the bricks together. The rug's fire burned spots were still there, but the dust and dirt were gone, giving the carpet a semblance of new life and some of its off white color back.

By the time Ginny left Taylor's apartment, the inside of the place didn't look like it belonged in the Wizarding slums any longer. Ginny only wished there was something she could do to get them out of there entirely. It was something else to think about during her long hours on call.

III

Ginny set out the three books she had borrowed from the library on the coffee table in front of the fireplace. She had a cup of hot chocolate, a blanket, and all night to study and find a cure for the wasting sickness that was afflicting Mrs. Malfoy. She settled in just as the ten o'clock shift at the hospital went home and the meager night staff took over.

Ginny picked up the first of the books and got to work.


	6. Chapter 6

Incuratus

Chapter Six

By Mell8

----------------

Ginny's nightmares woke her up at three. The heavy tome she had been reading had fallen off her lap onto the couch when she had fallen asleep an hour before and lay there, open to a useless page. This book and the two she had read before it had not given her any clues as to what kind of spell was causing Mrs. Malfoy's wasting disease. One of the books had even offered leeches as an acceptable way of curing wasting sickness, as if the patient needed to lose more important body bits before she died.

Ginny sighed and gave up on the night as a lost cause. She found a piece of parchment and wrote, "yell really loudly", on it and stuck it in front of the fireplace where anyone flooing from the hospital would see it. Then she went to take a bath.

She went to work at five thirty, a half hour early, and was shocked to see Taylor already there.

"I've made a six thirty appointment with the hospital board," Taylor said as he rushed over to Ginny.

"Those old bats are awake that early?" Ginny snorted. "I don't believe it."

"They're not," Mary called from across the empty waiting room. "I just woke them all up with a floo call." She waved and gave them a cheeky, mischief filled grin before walking off down one of the side halls to go get the fire started in the boardroom so the old people wouldn't be cold when they got there.

"Oh," Taylor added once Ginny stopped snickering at the expense of the board. "That soup your mother sent was amazing! Amy stopped coughing after one bowl. I had a bowl too, just in case I was getting sick," he added with a sheepish smile that let Ginny know that the soup had smelled too good to pass up.

"I'll tell my mum you said that," Ginny said with a smile. "I'll show you around the library once your thesis idea has been accepted."

Taylor nodded eagerly and said goodbye before walking off to go pace in front of the boardroom doors.

Ginny made her way up to her office for another day of work.

III

"It's remarkable," Lucius said softly as he watched his wife sitting outside in the garden. Narcissa was swathed in warming charms and extra blankets to stave off the autumn chill in the air, but she was out of her bed and sitting up without help, which was a marked difference from how she had been only a few days ago.

"I'm glad she can see her roses again before they die for the winter," Draco added in an equally soft voice. Draco was clearly very happy his mother's condition was improving. She was eating better and moving around, two things that staved off the depression that had been crippling Narcissa Malfoy just as badly as the wasting sickness.

"Once Ginny finds a cure, you won't have to worry any more," Blaise added and then swore when a spark flew and ignited the sleeve of his robes. He quickly put out the fire and glared down at the dragon on the table. "You did that on purpose!"

The dragon looked back impassively. It was clearly saying, "I don't know what you're talking about. The spark was obviously your fault."

Blaise sighed. "Let me try the spell again."

The dragon blew smoke out of its nose unhappily.

"Yeah, we got that part already!" Draco snapped as he glared down at the almost animate dragon. "You're fire proof, but you can only make smoke. If you'd just stay still we can get the fire breathing part done and you won't have to worry about it any more!"

The dragon blew more smoke angrily at Draco and glared.

"If it's making smoke," Lucius said thoughtfully as he moved to where they were working on the dragon, "then it has the capabilities to make fire. Can it open its mouth to let out the flames?"

"Oh!" Blaise gasped. "We haven't animated that part yet." He pointed his wand and started casting spells and charms at a furious pace.

Draco ignored Blaise and went back to enchanting the thing to fly. He bent the wings experimentally and was glad to see that he had finally made the joints strong enough to make the correct flapping movements. Still, just having the correct shape and movement did not mean a stuffed toy would fly. Draco set about charming the thing to act like a broom. It would go in the air when flight was needed and the joint movement would send the signals to the flight spell telling it which way to propel.

Draco had just laid down the last of the flight components when his face caught on fire.

Draco shrieked and was quick enough with his wand to keep his hair and robes from igniting. He wasn't so sure about his eyebrows.

Blaise was leaning against the table, laughing hysterically. Even stoic Lucius let out a few chuckles. Draco's harsh glare, minus the eyebrows, only set off Blaise again.

Draco cast about for the damn dragon and found it flapping near the ceiling, mouth open in its own form of laughter.

"I think it hates me," Draco grumbled. He ran a hand through his hair and swore when some burnt strands got caught under his fingernails.

The dragon watched as his prey preened itself. Those long yummy looking digits were running through the fur. The scowl when fur got caught under the claws was wonderful. The dragon waited, dipping lower and lower in its flight, until just the right moment.

Draco squawked and tried to jump away, but the dragon had a firm hold on his hand. All four paws were wrapped around his wrist as the toothless beast gummed his fingers excitedly.

Blaise had almost stopped laughing from the last attack, but seeing Draco jumping about, shaking his hand as a stuffed dragon tried to devour his fingers was too funny to pass up.

"Get this thing off me!" Draco snapped at Blaise.

"Fine," Blaise laughed. "Fine." He took hold of the dragon by the neck and gently pulled it off. The dragon was only cloth and stuffing with a myriad of spells thrown in. All Blaise had to do was tug and it came free. The cloth rubbing against Draco's skin made the blond wince and he wiggled his otherwise unharmed fingers experimentally before leveling a glare at the innocent looking dragon. .

"We have to give you teeth now," Blaise explained when the dragon gave him a reproachful look for tearing it away from its snack.

"No way!" Draco gasped. "Then I'd really lose my hand." He glared down at the heavy rug burn he was already sporting.

Blaise tapped the dragon on the head with his wand and watched the creature go limp.

"We'll put a safeguard on it so the dragon can only bite and claw enemies." Blaise decided. "As long as you're not Ginny's enemy, it won't be able to attack you."

"Can you add that to the fire spell and every other spell that is potentially harmless to me?" Draco asked petulantly with half a gesture towards his burnt off eyebrows.

"I need to work some more with the invisibility spell, when you have a chance," Lucius added in. "The dragon still has a faint outline, so it's more like a Disillusionment charm than invisibility."

"And I'm adding in a way to manually turn the thing off," Draco said as he brandished his wand threateningly at the innocent dragon.

"Sirs," Twinky the house elf called politely as she knocked on the door. "Youse have a guest."

Taylor waved from behind Twinky and walked into the room.

"Is there something the matter, Mr. Blanche?" Lucius asked sharply. The boy was here without Ginny, which was more than odd.

"No, nothing," Taylor said with a grin. "Ginny can't come tonight again because she's on call, so she sent me with another potion vial for Mrs. Malfoy." Taylor dug into his pocket and pulled out the vial that had Narcissa's medicine in it. He handed the vial to Lucius.

"I was also hoping that I might raid your library," Taylor added when he didn't leave and everyone kept staring at him.

"Why?" Lucius said, suddenly cold towards the young man. Most of the books in his library were not what a healer's apprentice would be looking for. Most of those books were dark magic of the worst sort and Lucius didn't want anyone who could report back to the Ministry finding them.

"My thesis idea was just accepted by the hospital board," Taylor explained. Not even Malfoy's cold shoulder could dampen his excitement over this. "I'm studying complementary medicine in conjunction with poisoning, and while I know you won't have anything on Muggle medicines, I was hoping you might have something on poisons."

Blaise let out a short laugh. "Do they have books on poisons?" he snorted at the obvious answer to that question. His outburst was quickly quelled by Lucius' sharp look. Blaise turned his attention back to the dragon.

"We have books on poisons, yes," Lucius said sharply. "Is there something in particular you were looking for?"

"Yew," Taylor said immediately. "I mean, I know I should research more than one poison for my thesis, but yew is my main focus."

"The sick girl?" Blaise asked softly.

"My Aunt's last name was Turnkey," Taylor explained.

"She's the pureblood witch who went insane and killed herself and tried to kill her child?" Lucius asked.

"And I've been taking care of Amy ever since," Taylor said. "If I find a cure for yew, she can live to see four."

"A good family, those Turnkeys," Lucius said thoughtfully. "I'll see what we have."

Lucius nodded to Taylor before turning and sweeping out of the room. Taylor watched with a shocked expression on his face before he schooled himself and looked over at Draco and Blaise.

"Um, Draco," Taylor said carefully. "Did you know you're missing your eyebrows?"

Draco growled and dove for Taylor, who yelped and went to hide behind Blaise.

"Now, now, children," Blaise said as he stepped between Draco and Taylor. "You'll give our dear dragon some new ideas."

Draco froze and looked over at the dragon that had somehow broken mostly free of the spell that turned it off. It was sitting up, watching avidly as Draco tried to practice the art of strangulation on Taylor.

"Oh, wicked!" Taylor gasped. "Is that Ginny's dragon?"

"Yeah," Blaise said as he stuck the tip of his wand into the dragon's mouth and started to charm the fangs to be sharp.

"Could I add some spells?" Taylor asked. "There are some healing ones the dragon could do that would help her out a lot."

"Sounds fine," Blaise said with a shrug. "Just ask before you attach a spell so you don't accidentally meld the healing spell with the fire spell."

"Is that okay?" Taylor asked the dragon.

The dragon nodded before turning to Blaise and pointing to his tail.

"You want your tail to move too?" Blaise asked with a laugh. "Fine, as soon as I'm done with your teeth and claws."

"It understands human speech?" Draco gasped.

"Apparently," Lucius said as he re-entered the room. He handed four books to Taylor before turning to Draco. "A word?"

Draco followed his father out of the room and down the hall. He knew it was time to be serious by the look in his father's eyes.

They hadn't spoken about their last discussion when Lucius' words had told Draco that his father, the pillar upon which Draco based his entire belief system, had different views than a mere observer would see. Since then Draco had been thinking, both about his actions and the war. He thought about his family, from his mother hit with a Death Eater's curse, to his father whose ideals on life that he had taught Draco from the cradle were fluid and bendable as long as the right actions were being accomplished. Draco had thought about his Aunt Bella and the insanity he saw lurking in her eyes. And he had thought about himself. Himself and Ginny.

Was what he was doing right? According to his standards, yes. According to Ginny's brothers' standards, no. By Ginny's standards…he couldn't say.

He had killed people, hurt and maimed people, all for this cause he followed and espoused. And every time his hands spilled another drop of blood, someone like Ginny suffered for it.

"Have you come to a decision, Draco?" Lucius asked as they came to a stop far enough away from the workroom that they wouldn't be overheard.

Draco swallowed hard before nodding. "She was right about Aunt Bella. So she must be right about other things too. But how could she be? She's from a blood traitor family who know nothing of power or ambition or of the Dark Lord."

"She's against war completely," Lucius said softly. "If you keep fighting, rather than trying to end the war, you'll lose her."

"I know that!" Draco snarled. "But how can I abandon everything I've fought so hard for? I believe in the superiority of purebloods and even if the Dark Lord isn't as pure as he pretends, his goals are solid."

"We are stronger than other witches and wizards who are not purebloods," Lucius agreed. "But she would say that blood is just as red no matter if the punctured vein is yours, hers, or some Muggle."

"She baffles me, father. Every time she speaks, every time she does a selfless act, she makes me feel so odd. As if my life and the things I believe are important are mere specks in the whole scheme of the world."

"Then why, Draco? Why do you want to abandon the way of life I taught you and the Dark Lord fights for?" Lucius seemed to already know the answer, but he had found true love in his wife and knew what it had been like for him when Narcissa had looked at him with those big blue eyes of hers and asked him to change his world for her.

"She's so strong and opinionated," Draco reasoned to himself. "She knows what she believes in and, even if the middle as a noncombatant is the most difficult place to be in a war of black and white fighting against each other, she stays there. And yet, she's so innocent and helpless." He held up the arm she had curled herself around just a few nights ago and looked at his arm as if it were a phantom limb.

"If my actions can end this war sooner," Draco whispered as he turned traitor to what his entire life had been built on until this moment. "Then I won't ever have to see her cry over another dead child."

He wasn't abandoning everything he had ever fought for. He wasn't turning traitor either, not really. No, he was merely changing the rules, like his father had. He would not compromise his beliefs, but he would do what was in his best interests.

"Then you've made your decision," Lucius said with a nod. "Try to get that dragon away from Blaise tonight and we'll see what we can add ourselves."

Draco nodded and watched as his father turned and walked down the hall to the door that led to the rose garden. Once his father was out of sight, Draco gave up on pretending to be strong and let his weak knees drop him to the ground.

He didn't know if he loved Ginny Weasley. He lusted after both her body and her mind. He hated it when she cried. He wanted her to hug him more often in happiness. Was that love?

Despite his feelings for her or her feelings for him, Draco still wanted to do something for her. He wanted to do something that would change her life for the better.

And he would. All he had to do was get that damned dragon to listen to him!

III

Ginny got through her shifts for the next three days on autopilot. She went to work, went home to get cleaned up, sat in front of the fire with a heavy tome to study, fell asleep, and woke up an hour later with nightmares. Then she went back to work and the cycle started all over again.

Ginny knew she needed sleep. It had been four days since she had seen her dragon. She was on call, but that didn't mean she couldn't sleep on the couch. Without her dragon, though, she could barely get in an hour of sleep each night before the nightmares came and woke her up.

Ginny was just standing up from the couch after waking from one of her nightmares after finishing her fourth night on call when a frantic head appeared in the fireplace.

"Healer Weasley?" the head called urgently over loud background noises. Ginny turned to see one of the trainees calling for her.

"Damn," Ginny muttered under her breath. She had been hoping to get through her week on call without being called in. "Yes, that's me."

"We need you at once. There's been an incident in the reception area." The trainee pulled his head away from the fire and let out a yelp of pain. A splash of blood fell onto Ginny's side of the fireplace just before the floo cut off.

Ginny swore and grabbed for her wand. She was in the reception area seconds later and swore again as she had to dodge to the far wall.

A giant plant was flinging about its limbs with deadly accuracy, leaving welts and sometimes opening wounds on the exposed skin of those unfortunate enough to get caught.

Ginny studied the plant and snarled. Why did people always think it would be a good idea to bring the thing that attacked them to the hospital? This was the third or fourth time in the past two weeks! It was lucky that there were only a few people in the reception area this early in the morning or this could be much worse.

The stalks of the plant were thin and reaching with broad green leaves. It was the flowers that made Ginny grab the nearest trainee and yank him over to her.

"Get out of this room and get on the floo. I want every poisons healer coming in for the next shift here in two minutes," Ginny snapped before flinging the trainee towards the nearest door.

The flowers of the plant were bell shaped with a strong purple tinge to the green flesh. Belladonna, or deadly nightshade, had somehow come alive and was attacking and poisoning people in the waiting room.

Ginny gripped her wand in her hand before diving forward into the melee. She tried stunning the whipping branches, but was forced to duck out of the way when that didn't work.

Belladonna, what stopped belladonna? Ginny knew that there was something she had learned about it that she should remember. Cold didn't kill it, and fire might, but fire might also bring down the hospital.

Ginny dodged another flung limb and fell to her knees at the side of one of her fellow healers. He had a deep laceration across one arm and when he looked at Ginny the pupils of his eyes were huge.

Ginny grabbed his uninjured arm and helped the healer to a side door of the room where more healers with a poisons patch on their robes where appearing.

"Belladonna," Ginny gasped out as she handed over her burden.

The poisons healer nodded and bent to check her new patient. "Elevated heart rate, dilated pupils, and the damned plant right in front of us. I'd say belladonna's a good guess." She sighed and nodded to Ginny. "I'll get him healed. I just wish we had some slugs!"

"That's it!" Ginny laughed and hugged the woman. Then she spun on her heel and pointed her wand right at the trunk. Slugs ate the bark and the stems of belladonna. It was a plant that was surprisingly partial to slug palates.

Hungry grey and slimy slugs spewed from her wand all over the damned plant. Ginny swore she heard the plant scream as the slugs got to work taking the plant apart. Ginny didn't stay and watch the magical slugs eat the bark and move on to the stems. Instead she went right back into the fray to drag out more people hit and infected. It was just a good thing that this was the wrong season for the berries or more people would be poisoned.

There was one more person to save, a boy who had his body wrapped around the small pot that the plant used to fit in before it came in contact with an odd concoction of potions, including a growth potion.

Ginny kept half an eye on the slug-covered plant as she crept under the limbs to the base to check on the boy. He was alive but only breathing weakly, a sure sign that it wasn't belladonna he was afflicted with.

Ginny pulled the boy into a fireman's carry over one shoulder and carefully walked the boy over to the few poisons healers left in the room after every other attacked person had been taken to the poisons ward.

"This one's not belladonna," Ginny said as she passed her burden off to one of the healers.

The healer nodded but didn't move out of the way. "We're out of beds," he explained. "And this bloke's the one that brought the plant in here in the first place."

"Oh," Ginny said in understanding. "Go ahead and put him in one of the private rooms in my ward. Taylor is studying poisons so this could be good for him."

"Right, thanks," the healer said with a nod before he turned and went through the door and down the hallway to Ginny's ward.

Ginny turned and looked around the destroyed reception area before she began inching her way out the door as well.

While she hadn't brought the plant in, the hungry slugs that had now moved from the plant to the poorly upholstered chairs were her fault. She didn't want to be here when clean up started or she'd get roped into it.

"Healer Weasley, what happened?" Taylor asked when he caught sight of her and the slug covered room. He had obviously just gotten to the hospital for his shift and had missed all the excitement.

"Oh, Taylor. Lovely to see you," Ginny said quickly as she reached out to grab his arm and pull him forcefully out the door and down the hall. "It's time to go to work, so we should head to my office at once!"

"Why do I get the feeling that you're running away?" Taylor asked with a laugh.

"Because I am." Ginny smiled at him and walked faster when a hurried glance back showed someone holding one of her slugs and pointing down the hallway towards their direction.

They bypassed Ginny's office and went further into her ward to where the private rooms were located. Ginny flung the first door open, found the room empty, and moved to the next door. This time when she threw open the door the mysterious boy and the poisons healer were waiting for her.

"Hello," Ginny said with a smile. "This is my apprentice, Taylor, and he'd like to help you out."

"Hiding from the cleanup crew again, Ginny?" the healer asked.

"With a vengeance, Don," Ginny answered with a grin. "There's no way I'm cleaning up that many slugs. Leave that to the med-wizards." She gave a theatrical shiver before settling into the guest chair in the corner.

The healer just shook his head and turned back to his patient.

"I'm Healer Donald Peterson," he said to Taylor. "Tell me what signs you see that lead to the poison this boy has ingested."

Taylor moved forward to look at the boy. He carefully peeled back one eyelid, felt for temperature and pulse and looked down the boy's throat.

"No convulsions or trouble breathing, which rules out yew and hemlock poisoning. I'd say belladonna from the pupil dilation, but his heart rate is through the roof, which is much more than just belladonna could cause. Maybe foxglove, but with his pulse this high we'd have to pump his stomach immediately. I don't see a rash, which rules out lily of the valley."

Taylor sighed. "I wish he was awake and could tell us if he's having vision problems! The faint could be caused by exhaustion or shock, or he's in a coma from something like poppy or bloodroot. It's impossible to tell without knowing the exact poisons that entered his body."

"What would you suggest?" Peterson asked.

"I'd say, pump his stomach to get whatever he ingested out and then test his blood to see if we can isolate some of the poisons and administer antidotes. Guessing and giving him an antidote to a poison that he doesn't have in his body could make him worse or kill him. Instead, put him on constant watch for any signs of heart attack, stroke, or respiratory problems."

Healer Peterson smiled and nodded. "A perfect diagnosis! Aside from pumping his stomach, there isn't anything immediate that can be done."

A knock came at the door and a medi-wizard with a stomach-pumping cart walked into the room. "I've got all the equipment you asked for," the medi-wizard said to healer Peterson.

"Excellent. You and trainee Blanche are going to help me. Healer Weasley, if you're not going to help…"

"I'll leave," Ginny sighed. "They're probably given up searching for me by now."

Once the adrenalin from fighting a giant plant had worn off, Ginny was left only with her exhaustion. She retired to the couch in her office and wished that she dared go to sleep. She shouldn't be sleeping during her work hours and even if she did manage to go to sleep, her nightmares would wake her before she got any actual rest.

She got off work at noon today. Maybe instead of sending Taylor with Mrs. Malfoy's potion, today Ginny would go and would ask for an afternoon nap with her dragon.

-------------------

A.N. For anyone who has been reading my profile, you will know that this story is being rewritten because I lost half of it in a hard drive failure a year ago. Last chapter was technically where the new writing merged with the old, but this chapter is where everything is newly written, so I'm asking now.

Are there any discrepancies in the writing between the older chapters and the new? Have you noticed any facts that have been mangled or characters that have become different people overnight? Does the plot still flow smoothly despite the fact that many things have changed in the months between when the old chapters were written and the new?

Thank you so much for helping me out, and thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed and who will review!

Mell8


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